


Shooting the Moon and Playing Dominoes in Drag

by juiceboxknox



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Prostitution, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Betrayal, Corruption, Drama & Romance, Drugs Made Them Do It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Falling In Love, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Loss of Innocence, Love Triangles, M/M, Multi, Murder, Organized Crime, Psychotropic Drugs, Sexual Violence, Slow Romance, Tragedy, Unhealthy Relationships, Unrequited Love, money isn't everything, trust fund babies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2019-12-29 21:25:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 56
Words: 245,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18302228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juiceboxknox/pseuds/juiceboxknox
Summary: Modern day Konoha, headed by the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and a corrupt police force commissioned by Uchiha Fugaku. Fugaku lost the Hokage election to Minato and will do anything to overthrow Minato and become Hokage. Naruto and Sasuke meet when they were five years old and they experience the seedy corrupt world of Konoha together as they grow up. At Konoha Preparatory Boarding School Naruto meets Yuki Haku, at age 15, and becomes addicted to Callisto ultimately ending up in a child prostitution ring. Sasuke struggles with his sexuality and feelings for his long time best friend. Sasuke ultimately ends up being forced into doing some corrupt things, and some things the repercussions are severe and unforgivable it changes everything. This is an AU where Naruto is the one who enters the darkness and Sasuke is the one who pulls him back.Part 1: Ages 5-13Part 2: Ages 15-16Part 3: Ages 17Epilogue beginning Chapter 51: Ages 20-21Update 10/02/19:Currently editing chapters for clarity and continuity/adding some scenes.Will add more chapters in Epilogue. Grad school is kicking my bum.





	1. The Day We Met

#  **The Day We Met**

 

"Hi! My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, and climbing trees. Please take care of me, y'know!" said the four year old boy, soon to be five year old boy. He spoke quickly and loudly. The small boy with sunflower blonde hair bowed to the dark-haired boy in front of him. The dark-haired boy had equally dark onyx eyes. Black on black. The smile never faltered.

Sasuke stared hard at the name tag pinned to the other boy's shirt. Reading: **Uzumaki Naruto** , in thick black lettering. Arial bold.

"You don't have to introduce yourself. I can read the name tag!" Sasuke spoke in a superior tone his hand gesturing towards Naruto's shirt. Naruto looked at the name tag pinned to his shirt. He was unable to read **Uchiha Sasuke**.

"You can read?!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Both hands clenched into fists. He began bouncing up and down, "That's so cool! You're really cool! Yeah?"

The voice was too loud for coming out of the too small boy and Sasuke grimaced. Everything about the boy was too... _Too_ loud. Eyes _too_ blue. Hair _too_ blonde. _Too_ hyper. _Too_ bright. Just _too_ much. Sunlight and warmth radiated from every pore and it stung the eyes of the young Uchiha.

There was a feeling of anger in the pit of Sasuke's stomach. This was the Hokage's son?! You've got to be kidding. This was the son of the youngest Hokage in history?

"This is my second son, Uchiha Sasuke," Fugaku introduced in a matter-of-fact tone. His face deadpan. His eyes moving from the small blonde child up to the child's equally blonde father. The police commissioner, Uchiha Fugaku, was dressed in a navy blue suit with his Smith and Wesson strapped in its holster at his waist. Fugaku made a point to expose the weapon. His hands moved the dress jacket back as he put his hands on his hips; sunlight reflected off the handle of the gun.

"Fugaku," the Yondaime greeted with a smile on his face. It was no doubt who Naruto inherited his smile from. He was an exact replica of his father.

"Minato." Fugaku greeted curtly. 

"I hope our sons can become good friends!" Minato spoke his smile unwavering.

"Or rivals," Fugaku suggested, "It's good to have a rival, makes you grow stronger as a person. Wouldn't you agree, Minato?" With this Minato laughed. It felt as if the two were having an underlying conversation only they were apart of. Sasuke peeked at his father from the corner of his eyes. 

Naruto still had that smile on his face. He stuck his hand out, wanting Sasuke to shake it, and stated, "Let's be friends, 'ay Sasuke?"

"You're really stupid aren't you? Like I'd be your friend," Sasuke spoke coldly. He slapped the outstretched hand away, and without another word, shoved his hands into his pockets, and began walking towards the school entrance. The smile had left Naruto, almost immediately, as if somebody flipped a switch and the lights went off. His pupils constricted as his eyes widened. 

_Wait...what?_

Fugaku laughed. It was cold and condescending, "I apologize for my son's behaviors. He doesn't have the composure or patience to hide his true emotions...not like my elder son, Itachi." 

Naruto looked up at the gun around the man's waist before his eyes trailed up to the cold stone face of the Police Commissioner. He didn't look or sound sorry in Naruto's opinion. Naruto peeked up at his dad to gauge his reaction. The smile on Minato's face never left, and Naruto felt relief seeing his father's smile.

"I'll see you at the afternoon meeting, Minato...it was pleasant...meeting your son," Fugaku spoke curtly. His eyes looking down briefly at Naruto before bringing them back up. It was quick and if Naruto wasn't looking back up at him he'd miss it all together. The look he gave him was that of pure disgust. Hatred. Malice. Fugaku turned his attention to Minato. His cold eyes bore into his father for a moment. Silence hung thick around them. Fugaku was the first to leave. Naruto watched as Fugaku left the school yard.

"What did I do wrong?" Naruto asked quietly as Minato kneeled down in front of his son. 

Minato smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair, "You make friends easily...too easily...but sometimes, sometimes, you need to put in more effort with some people...and in my opinion those are the best friendships. I think it would be great if you became friends with young Uchiha Sasuke...put more effort with Sasuke. Yeah?"

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed. 

"That's my son!"

Minato held his young son's hand with his and lead him to his Kindergarten classroom. The teacher came over and greeted Minato enthusiastically, shaking his hand forcefully with both of hers, "Yondaime! I didn't think you'd be here for the entrance ceremony! It's such a pleasure to meet you!"

Naruto stopped listening to the adults as his eyes moved past all the other children in the room until they fell to Sasuke. He was seated in the back of the classroom claiming his seat at the desk closest to the window. His elbow on the desk, fist propping up his head, staring outside the window, and ignoring everyone around him. To Naruto he looked...lonely.

Sasuke turned his attention towards him and they locked eyes. Naruto immediately smiled and waved, but Sasuke scowled and quickly turned away; ignoring him and making it obvious he was ignoring him. Naruto lowered his hand, but continued to stare at Sasuke.

*****

To Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, had become an eyesore and he was an even bigger idiot than Sasuke realized as the first day of school went on. It angered Sasuke and the anger in the pit of his stomach only increased. That _this_ was the son to the most powerful man in Konoha. _This_...was the Hokage's son? It was ridiculous.

Sasuke recalled the conversation with his parents about the Kindergarten entrance ceremony. Sasuke asked if his father would be accompanying him. Secretly wanting his father to say ' _yes_ '. Sasuke's mother, Mikoto, wouldn't be able to attend as she was driving his elder brother, Itachi, to the Konoha Preparatory Boarding School. Sasuke's question was thoroughly ignored by both parents.

Both his parents attention were focused solely on the elder son. Both had forgotten entirely about Sasuke's entrance ceremony. Itachi was a ' _true genius_ '. Only ten years old, and already comprehending high school level classes. Itachi was quickly accepted into the preparatory school with high honors. Even though the earliest students could enroll was 8th grade. Itachi was the youngest student to be accepted into the academy. Sasuke stood there forgotten as the conversation shifted to Itachi.

"I'm afraid, Fugaku. Isn't he too young to be attending boarding school?" Mikoto brought up her concerns regarding Itachi.

"Shisui will be attending this year as well," Fugaku replied as if that was reason enough to send him. A cold smile spread Fugaku's lips as he continued, "Although...Itachi is the youngest to be admitted into the school. He really is a true genius. A true prodigy of the Uchiha, not even comparable to Shisui. Of course he should be attending. All the more reason for him to be attending."

"What about Sasuke's entrance ceremony?" Itachi asked calmly.

"I have business meetings all morning," Fugaku retorted. He looked at Mikoto wanting her to agree with him but she looked away nervously. Sasuke couldn't hide the sadness etched in his face and he quickly looked down causing dark hair to cloud his hurt features. Itachi was watching Sasuke intensely, feeling the second-hand pain Sasuke was feeling. Itachi was calm, soft-spoken, and face as deadpan as their father's, however, was more observant than either parent.

"The Hokage's son will be in Sasuke's class right, father?" Itachi spoke. He knew what to say to pique his father's interest. "I wonder what he's like...if he's the son of the youngest Hokage in history he must be equally impressive. I would be interested to know what kind of son Uzumaki Naruto is."

Fugaku took Itachi's words into consideration mulling them over before nodding his head, "I'll accompany Sasuke to the entrance ceremony." Fugaku looked down at his younger son; finally acknowledging him. 

"Sasuke...don't lose to the Hokage's son. Understand?"

Sasuke's face brightened up and he responded, "Yes, father!"

*****

This was the Hokage's son?

It was a thought that crossed across Sasuke's mind multiple times during the school day and every school day thereafter. Sasuke was in absolute disbelief. Naruto had zero skill, scored poorly on assignments, and placed dead last in class ranking. In contrast Sasuke was the top of the class, and everything came easily to him. Despite all of this Naruto's smile never wavered, and he never stopped prattling on about never giving up.

During the fitness exam Sasuke scored the highest in the class. Sasuke was more flexible than Naruto, faster than Naruto, stronger than Naruto, and had more endurance than Naruto...and yet...and yet...the one thing he did not have was Naruto's energy levels.

"-you're really amazing Sasuke, y'know!" Naruto spoke breathlessly one hand scratching behind his head. Naruto was sweating, and his cheeks were beat red, yet his stamina was off the charts. He exuded energy as if hiding an unlimited supply of battery packs under his clothes. They had just finished the fitness test and it was lunch time. Sasuke was surprised at how athletic Naruto was having placed second only to Sasuke. Their gap in skill was still too great. Naruto was a sweaty mess, whereas Sasuke was cool and collected.

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke replied at the sight of Naruto. Eyeing him up and down. The blonde just wouldn't leave him alone.

"Just wait! I'll catch up in no time, y'know!" Naruto replied enthusiastically clenching one fist. "...and then I'll challenge you!" Naruto pointed a finger at Sasuke, "And I'll win!"

"Give it up, Naruto!" a female voice filtered through the air. "The difference of skill between you two is too huge!" A small girl with a very big and wide forehead appeared between them. She placed her hands parallel from each other and stretched them out as far as she could to emphasis her point. **Haruno Sakura.**

"Sakura!" Naruto spoke his eyes lighting up. "Wanna eat lunch with m-" Naruto began to ask, but she shook her head, held out one hand to Naruto's face, and interrupted, "I refuse!"

Naruto's excitement vanished and he whined, "Saaakuraaa!"

"Sasuke...want to eat lunch together!" Sakura asked warmly, ignoring Naruto completely. She stepped in front of Naruto, blocking him from view. Sasuke stared at Sakura as if she was nothing more than a bug he wanted to squish with his shoe. She was even more annoying than Naruto.

"No. Your forehead is so big it reflects the sun and it's giving me a headache the more I look at you," Sasuke answered coldly. Sakura's face turned white, and then pink, and then beat tomato red. She laughed nervously but she couldn't find words to say. Her eyes filling with tears.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said angrily stepping in front of Sakura. "Apologize to Sakura!"

Sasuke turned his attention towards Naruto and smirked, "Sakura is right. You'll never be on my level, dumbass. You two losers are perfect for each other." Sasuke turned around and walked away.

Naruto screamed after him, "SASUKE! JUST YOU WAIT!"

*****

Sasuke sat under the big thick oak tree in the school yard watching as the other children played on the play park equipment. It was after school, yet everyone stayed back to play. It was one of the last days where they still had nice weather to play outside in. Sasuke thought about going home soon. He glanced towards the back school gate, and turned back to see his classmates playing.

To Sasuke...his classmates were below him, and unworthy of his attention. He didn't want to play with them. But, going home so soon and being alone at his home wasn't something he wanted to do either. Although Sasuke brought a comic book with him he couldn't focus on the book. Just pretended too. Instead focused on the chatter and laughter exuding from his classmates.

As soon as Naruto appeared his classmates all ran to him. The blonde boy always had other kids surrounding him. Like a light attracts moths. Everyone in their class gravitated around him. Today, Naruto, had a large orange ball under his arm. Sasuke found himself staring at the blonde.

"What are we going to play, Naruto?" Kiba asked. The only one to rival Naruto's enthusiasm was Kiba.

Naruto held the ball above him and exclaimed loudly, "KICKBALL!" Sasuke's eyes trailed the ball that was above Naruto's head.

"You don't have to shout…we're all right here," Shikamaru spoke as he rubbed his ear. Choji next to him stammered, "I'm...not good at th-these kinds of th-things. I don't think I'd be a good teammate."

"That's fine, Choji, just do your best. I want us to all play together!" Naruto said encouragingly. 

"The losers will buy the winners juice!" Kiba said loudly, pumping his fist in the air. Naruto laughed and agreed. Everybody nodded their head in agreement. It was fun when there were stakes on the line.

Sasuke brought his eyes back to the comic book, when an even darker shadow fell onto him. Sasuke looked up and saw Naruto standing in front of him, orange ball under his arm, big goofy grin on his lips. _Too_ bright.

"Oi, Sasuke...come play with us," Naruto demanded. Sasuke glared up at him before closing his book and standing up. He never left him alone. Always bothering him. Sasuke was taller than Naruto, by a few inches, and he sized Naruto up and down. _Too_ noisy.

"No." Sasuke concluded bluntly before turning and walking towards the school gate. 

"Oh. I see." Naruto spoke without turning around, "Sasuke is a chicken…a scaredy-cat who thinks he'll lose to me if we play." He dribbled the ball a few times before catching it in both hands.

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. Naruto in kind, turned to face Sasuke, a smirk on his face. Without hesitation Naruto threw the ball at Sasuke's stomach. He caught it with ease.

"You and I are both captains. You can pick first." Naruto explained. 

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke mumbled as he looked at the orange ball in his hands.

*****

"Heh," Sasuke exasperated as he stepped up to home plate. The bases were loaded. 2 outs, and the score was 3 to 6. In Naruto's favor. The sun was setting fast. It was decided to be the last pitch of the game, as it was getting time for them to return home.

From behind him Sasuke could hear his team cheering him on. "You can do it Sasuke!" "Kick it outta the field!" "Go! Sasuke! Go!" He was determined to win. His eyes locked with Naruto, the pitcher, who held the orange ball in his hands. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Strike 'em out Naruto!" Kiba yelled from first base. Shikamaru was squatting behind Sasuke; playing the part of both the catcher and umpire.

"Finally. I'm exhausted," Shikamaru grumbled and stifled a yawn.

Naruto smirked at Sasuke and gave him the thumbs down, "You're going down Sasuke, y'know!"

Naruto hurled the orange ball with all his might down at Sasuke. The dark-haired boy's movements were fluid and precise. He was able to calculate at what point he needed to extend his foot to kick the ball for maximum distance. Distance equals speed multiplied by time. Sasuke's foot connected with the ball at such force the ball flew up at an acute angle, over Naruto's head, and into the right outfield.

Cheers erupted from Sasuke's team. Naruto watched as the other team members on the bases began running at full speed towards their next base. Shino, a quiet boy, was in the right outfield. He ran up to the ball and quickly grabbed it before throwing it to second base. He was surprisingly nimble. Sasuke was already running past second base. Too late!

Lee, on second base, gripped the ball tightly. His thick, bushy, eyebrows furrowed together as he began to panic on where to throw the ball. 

"Lee!" Naruto called as he held his arms up, and without hesitation Lee threw the ball. It went too much to the left of Naruto, and Lee covered his face up with his hands in embarrassment. Cheers erupted from Naruto's team as Lee peeked between his fingers to find that Naruto had caught the ball and was running after Sasuke, who was running to home base.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he tackled Sasuke from the side just as Sasuke began sliding into home base. The two boys collided into a mess of arms and legs over home base. Naruto pinned Sasuke down, straddled him, the ball rested on Sasuke's chest. Naruto and Sasuke both turned their attention towards Shikamaru. Their entire class had ran towards them in anticipation of the verdict.

"Well?!" Sakura asked Shikamaru. They were tied. If Sasuke reached home base first than they had won the game, if not… The class waited with bated breath. Shikamaru was rubbing both eyes with his hands, "Sorry...I got dust in my eyes I couldn't see."

"UGH!" A collective moan game from the class. It was a draw.

"Get off me, usuratonkachi!" Sasuke said angrily. 

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Naruto answered. He stood up and stepped back awkwardly. Sasuke sat up. Naruto extended his hand to Sasuke and for a moment they locked eyes. Staring at each other for a moment. Sasuke finally smiled and reached his hand up to grip Naruto's and was pulled up. Naruto's hand was surprisingly warm and comforting.

"That was a good kick, Sasuke." Naruto commented as he let go of Sasuke's hand. 

"That was a good tackle."

Both stared at each other smiling, before Naruto threw an arm around Sasuke's neck, "Let's go home." 

"Ah." 


	2. Dark Light

# Dark Light

 

Friendship between Naruto and Sasuke came easy afterwards. So effortlessly.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran up from behind Sasuke sliding an arm around Sasuke's neck and placing half of his weight onto him. They were both eight years old now. Sasuke almost lost his balance but grabbed Naruto and steadied them both. He turned to glare at Naruto.

"Help! I can't get past this boss level!" Naruto whined as he handed Sasuke the newest version of the handheld gaming system.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he quirked an eyebrow looking down at the nauseatingly orange dual screen game boy.

"We have taijutsu practice, Naruto." Sasuke spoke, rolling his eyes as he handed the game system back to the blonde boy. Naruto's face was twisting up into disappointment as he the game boy was being passed back to him. 

"B-B-ut Sasuke!"

"Come on let's go, usuratonkachi. We're going to be late."

"Hm?" Naruto looked past Sasuke and down the alleyway. "Hinata?" Naruto called down the alleyway. Sasuke turned to see what caught his attention. Hinata was in tears as she was struggling against an unknown man who was gripping her upper arm, and dragging her deeper down the alleyway. She looked like a rag doll.

"Naruto!" Hinata called out as she turned towards Naruto's voice. There was a desperation in her voice. She did not know this man. It was clear to Naruto. Naruto's heartbeat quickened as his brain began to process what he was witnessing.

The man had greasy hair that hung limp on either side of his face. He had a noticeable overbite, and his face covered in pimples and acne scars. The man turned towards Naruto a cruel smile curling his lips to reveal yellow teeth. Without hesitation or a second though Naruto dropped the game boy, and ran up to the man, grabbing hold of Hinata's free hand.

"LET GO OF HER!" Naruto screamed as he pulled Hinata towards him.

"Shaddap ya brat!" The man yelled as he backhanded Naruto across the face. Naruto felt the impact hard across his mouth, but he recovered quickly. This man was a bad man. If Naruto didn't stop him, right here right now, there was a sinking feeling that he wouldn't see Hinata ever again. Naruto grabbed hold of the man's wrist that held onto Hinata's arm and bit, hard, on the man's hand.

"YEEOOOOWW!" The man howled, but Naruto only sunk his teeth deeper into his flesh, tasting blood, and refusing to let go. Holding onto the man's wrist with both hands. The man finally let go of Hinata, punching Naruto in the face this time. The man spun Naruto around, and slammed him up against the side of the building. His free arm pressing against Naruto's throat.

"HINATA RUN!" Naruto cried out before his oxygen was cut off and he began gagging. Hinata was paralyzed in fear. She couldn't move.

Something silver and round struck the man across the temple, and his grip on Naruto's throat loosened. Sasuke had appeared besides Naruto, raising the silver trash can lid again, and smashing it across the man's skull once more. _THWACK_. Naruto released his hold on the man and watched as the man stumbled to the side, falling downwards to the alley floor, both hands went to the open wound on his head. Blood gushed from the wound.

"Naruto! Let's go!" Sasuke said breathlessly as he turned around to run. Naruto nodded his head in agreement, and grabbed hold of Hinata's hand. He held on refusing to let go, and pulled her along as the trio ran back into the streets.

*****

Naruto and Sasuke sat side by side at the police station. Naruto's face was swollen, his lip busted, and bruising was already forming on the left side of his face. A police officer walked out and handed Naruto an ice pack, which Naruto graciously accepted, and held it to his cheek. The police officer than knelt down and said, "You two were both very brave...you saved her life."

Naruto's eyes lit up and his free hand went behind his head saying nervously, "I just...didn't want to see my friend getting hurt, y'know! It's what anyone would do!"

No. Sasuke thought. It isn't. Sasuke sat next to Naruto quietly.

In all honesty...Sasuke was frozen in fear at the time. His legs refused to move and he couldn't stop shaking. Sasuke watched as Naruto moved to easily...so effortlessly to aid Hinata. Naruto discarded his own safety and well being in favor for the safety and well being of Hinata. Sasuke wanted to run...wanted to run and get help. It was only when he watched the man strike Naruto did he finally regain control of his body.

In all honesty...Sasuke didn't want to see Naruto get hurt. His body moved on its own and he only wanted to keep Naruto safe. Sasuke wasn't a hero. Not like Naruto. Sasuke peeked at Naruto who was grinning nervously, as more and more police officers came up to the boys giving thanks, encouragement, and praise. Naruto remained humble and downplayed his actions, nervousness etched on his features. Sasuke remained quiet and still.

In all honesty...Sasuke didn't even think about Hinata...he only thought about Naruto.

"I just want to protect my friends." Naruto spoke genuinely. "I won't sit back and let my friends get hurt."

"NARUTO!" a familiar male voice rang out. Sasuke and Naruto both turned towards the Yondaime who had appeared in the hallway.

"Hi da-" Naruto began but was interrupted as Minato pulled his son, upwards and into a tight hug. Naruto, now standing, looked sheepishly down at Sasuke as if to say ' _Dads, am I right?_ ' Sasuke turned away feeling jealousy well up inside him. It was then when Fugaku appeared on the opposite end of the hall.

Fugaku didn't ask if Sasuke was okay. Instead he nodded and said with a small smile, "As expected of my son." Sasuke felt his cheeks burn hot.

Minata had let go of Naruto and turned towards Fugaku. The adults began speaking.

"She would have been the fourth child, for christsake's, Fugaku...what are the police doing to capture him?" Minato asked sharply. "I assure you, Hokage, we are using every resource we have to track him down. He will be caught in no time."

Minato narrowed his eyes.

"Oh man!" Naruto exclaimed dropping his head in his hands. "What?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"I dropped my game boy...now I'll never beat that boss!" Naruto exclaimed shaking his head in his hands.

"That's all you're worrying about? You're even stupider than I thought! You should be institutionalized you're so stupid!" Sasuke spoke angrily. Sasuke stood up and shoved Naruto hard and the boy stumbled back and fell back down into his chair. Sasuke stuck his hands in his pocket, and walked away. Naruto looked at Sasuke his mouth agape.

"Hey...Sasuke!" Naruto called out and began running towards him, "What's your problem? Why are you mad at me?" Naruto dropped his arm down, squeezing the ice pack.

"Because what you did was really dangerous, Naruto! Really stupid and dangerous! You could have gotten really hurt." Sasuke snapped as he spun around, inches away from Naruto's face, causing Naruto to jump back in shock. 

"I was going to protect, Hinata. I'm going to protect my friends, just like you protected me." Sasuke was taken aback.

Naruto smiled warmly and hugged Sasuke. Naruto held onto Sasuke and spoke genuinely, "Thank you, Sasuke...for helping me. I was brave, because you were there...really thank you." Sasuke's eyes widened, and suddenly the anger and jealousy he felt washed away. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto and hugged him back relief that this sun speck of a boy was safe and sound.

*****

"Again!" Fugaku demanded as Sasuke picked himself up from the ground. They had been sparring for the better part of the hour in preparation for the tournament.

"You better not lose to the Hokage's son, Sasuke. No son of mine will lose to that brat!" Fugaku commanded in a booming voice as he swung his fist at Sasuke's face. Sasuke moved to block it, but it was a feign, to leave Sasuke's torso wide open. Fugaku spun around and attempted to kick Sasuke in the stomach. But Sasuke was faster, he had easily dodged, side stepped, and spun around kicking Fugaku in the back.

"You're getting faster," Fugaku reported. "Still...nowhere near Itachi's level." Fugaku quickly kicked at Sasuke's leg that was planted on the ground, immediately causing the boy to lose his balance and fall forwards.

"Again!"

Sasuke wheezed on the floor, sweat trickling down the side of his cheeks, catching his breath. "AGAIN!" Fugaku screamed. Sasuke picked himself up from the floor and resumed the starting position.

*****

Naruto and Sasuke faced each other on either side of the light weight mat. Both wrapped in a black karate gi. White belts fastened around their waists. Sasuke's eyes scanned the crowd until they fell onto his father. A shiver went down his spine. Fugaku was standing with his arms folded, deadpan, and staring at Sasuke. Clearly conveying, ' _Don't lose to the Hokage's son_.' Sasuke nodded his head in acknowledgement. 

"Aren't you watching too intently?" Minato asked humorously as he walked up to Fugaku and stood besides him. Shoulder to shoulder. "You look like you have money on this match...you do realize they're only eight."

"Hokage, I am surprised you have such free time to come to a children's tournament," Fugaku countered.

"Well, Naruto is my son and it's his first tournament." Minato spoke keeping his voice even and unfazed.

"...and Sasuke's my son, let's see who will come out on top." 

"Mhm."

Sasuke turned back to Naruto and scowled. Naruto's face twisted into determination and concentration. Sasuke wasn't going to lose to the Hokage's son.

Both boys held the unison sign. Index and middle finger poised upwards between their breast bone, their thumb covering their ring and pinky fingers. They both lowered their hands and the match began. Both boys charging at each other.

Although, Naruto was good...Sasuke was better...at least that was what Sasuke thought.

Naruto was the first to be on the offensive, it shocked Sasuke and forced him on the defense. Naruto swung his right arm at Sasuke's head, which Sasuke easily blocked. Naruto swung his body to the left bringing up his left leg aimed at Sasuke's right side. Sasuke was faster, he grabbed hold of Naruto's leg with his right hand before the impact, and punched Naruto in the stomach with his left hand.

Naruto side stepped away from Sasuke, as Sasuke swung at him again, and pulled his leg from Sasuke's grasp. Naruto spun his body around, grabbing Sasuke's left wrist, pulling the boy down, before swinging his other hand at Sasuke's jaw. The impact of the hit pushed Sasuke's head down. Naruto's eyes glanced to the crowd and his eyes caught Fugaku his expression cold and disapproving.

Naruto released Sasuke's wrist. Sasuke didn't know why Naruto did this when he had the upper hand. In that moment Sasuke brought both hands to the ground, his fingers holding Sasuke's weight before he used his left leg to kick up at Naruto, his foot connected to Naruto's jaw and the blonde boy flew backwards, and he began stumbling, grappling to regain his balance.

Sasuke wasn't done yet, he lowered his body and kicked at Naruto's feet, sideswiping him, causing him to lose his balance entirely. Naruto fell hard against the mat his spine breaking his fall. Sasuke was on top of Naruto in an instant, his right hand on Naruto's chest, and left hand balled into a fist inches from Naruto's face.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto inhaled in and exhaled out trying to catch his breath. His eyes stared up at Sasuke. There was a darkness under Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke appeared to stare through Naruto. There was a sinking feeling in Naruto's stomach. Sasuke didn't move or even acknowledge that the fight was over. 

"Sasuke?" Naruto spoke, and it was then that Sasuke came to his senses realizing where he was and what he was doing. "Want to get off of me now?" Sasuke stood up quickly, backed away, and turned his head to the crowd. To his father. Fugaku nodded in approval, a small smile on his lips. Sasuke felt himself light up.

"You're really good, Sasuke! I'll win next time. Just you watch!"

Sasuke turned to Naruto and together they completed the unison sign. Sasuke was amazed at how warm Naruto's fingers were. Naruto flashed Sasuke his exuberantly bright smile. A smile that was too bright and hurt his eyes...his smile was so bright that Sasuke turned away.

*****

It was spring time in their fifth grade year, and it was hot and stale outside. Even though it was morning the temperatures already rose to eighty degrees Fahrenheit. Sasuke sat with one hand propping up his head and the other twirled a pen around his fingers. Onyx eyes stared down at his blonde deskmate who had his face resting on arms that wrapped around his head. Naruto's eyes were closed and he was facing Sasuke; fast asleep. Sasuke was thinking this was probably the only time Naruto was ever quiet, but before he could finish the thought Naruto let out a loud snore. Sasuke stifled a laugh with his hand.

"NARUTO!" The teacher shouted into his ear, and Naruto woke up violently. "I'm up...I'M UP! Wha-whe-am I?"

The class began to laugh in unison. Sasuke looked away from Naruto and focused his attention back out the window a small smile on his lips. There was something about Naruto that calmed Sasuke, causing him to feel content and relaxed whenever he was around. It was moments like this when Sasuke recognized that Naruto was his best friend. 

*****

At lunchtime Kiba pulled up a chair, straddling the back of it, and looked directly at Naruto who stuffed his face with school bought lunch. Sasuke sat besides him and was eating slowly and more refined. Sasuke shifted his eyes to Kiba, who continued to stare at Naruto. The blonde noticed and acknowledged Kiba's presence with a welcoming smile as he stuffed his mouth with another spoonful. "Have you ever done a test of courage before, Naruto?" 

Ten year old Naruto had a mouth full of rice pilaf, which he quickly swallowed. Lowering his head to meet Kiba's he spoke enthusiastically, "No! But I'm in!"

Kiba smiled and nodded his head, "We're going to the old abandoned train station tonight. The sixth graders said at 12:30AM the ghost of a suicide victim appears on the train tracks."

"Ahhh!" Naruto exclaimed dramatically his hands on either side of his face. "That's scary! A real ghost?"

"Lee was telling me all about it, he said he was too scared to go, but said he'd go with us if we went. So...you in?"

"YES! Maybe we have put the spirit to rest."

"That's childish." Sasuke interrupted and rolled his eyes. "There's no such thing as ghosts. You're both stupid for believing otherwise. No wonder you're both at the bottom of the class rank!"

Naruto turned to Sasuke inches from his face and smiled wide, "You're coming too right, Sasuke? How else will you prove me wrong?" 

"I refuse." Sasuke retorted turning away. 

Naruto begged as he grabbed hold of Sasuke's arm and shook him, "Please! You have to come with me! Please! Please!"

"Fine! Only because you might do something stupid. Now let go of me!" 


	3. Welcome to the Dollhouse

#  Welcome to the Dollhouse 

# 

 

It was already 11:45PM. The temperatures dropped to fifty degrees. It was past their curfews, past their bedtimes, and they all left without telling their parents. They arrived at the Chihiro bus stop one by one. Kiba, Lee, Shikamaru, Choji. The last to get off the bus was Naruto and Sasuke. They were all here.

"Shikamaru you came!" Naruto spoke excitedly. "It's a drag, but Choji wanted to come," Shikamaru answered with a shrug.

Choji was shaking but clutched his hands into fists, "Test of courage!" 

"Yeah!" Naruto spoke as he pumped a fist into the air, "Test of courage!"

Sasuke hit Naruto across the head, "Lower your voice. If you haven't noticed we're not supposed to be out this late. If you don't want to get caught, keep quiet and get moving!" Sasuke shoved Naruto forward towards the path that lead to the abandoned Chihiro train station.

*****

"Why did she do it?" Lee asked. They were walking in a single file down the train track. Kiba was leading the way flashlight bouncing from side to side, followed closely by Naruto, and Sasuke two steps behind Naruto. Lee followed Sasuke. Leaving Choji and Shikamaru trailing at the back.

"A broken heart." Kiba answered mournfully. He moved his flashlight under his chin, and turned his face around to look at the rest of them. Kiba looked frightening. His eyes glowed from the light and shadows exaggerated his features, "She was rejected by the man she loved. So she jumped in front of the oncoming train and _SPLAT_...she died instantly...it took days and days to clean up all the bits and parts of her."

"That's gross dude…" Naruto commented and swallowed glancing back at their classmates. Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes. Lee swallowed and kept quiet, regretting asking in the first place. Choji turned to Shikamaru, "She can't hurt us can she?" 

"No. There's no such thing as ghosts, Choji," Shikamaru replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That's what you say now...just wait until you see her," Kiba interrupted. He turned back around, quickening his steps, and leading the rest of the way. They arrived at the abandoned train station. The train platform was dilapidated and falling apart. Windows busted. Overgrown weeds burst through the cracks of the concrete. Graphic graffiti covered everything in spray paint. Trash and empty liquor bottles spewed around.

"What's that smell?" Lee asked. "Choji!" Kiba said disgustingly. "It wasn't me!" Choji defended. It smelled rotten whatever it was and it hung thick in the air around the train station. Like rotten eggs mixed with raw sewage stewing on a hot summer's day. Everything around them still and silent. There wasn't any sounds of insects humming. It was completely quiet. The wind picked up and a gust of wind wiped around them in an angry burst. They all grew silent, and looked around as if attributing the angry wind to the suicide ghost.

"What now...what now?!" Naruto asked being the first to break the silence. He turned towards Kiba. He, smirked and held out three sticks. 

"Now we draw lots!"

Kiba began breaking the sticks until he had three sets of varying lengths. Mixing them up he held them in his two hands and stuck them out, "Now, everybody pick one. It'll decide your partner. We're going to split up into three sections of the train tracks."

Naruto was the first to grab one of the sticks, and everybody followed. The pairs were as followed: Kiba and Naruto, Choji and Lee, and Shikamaru and Sasuke.

"Hm?" Sasuke spoke as he stood by Shikamaru and surveyed the other partners; specifically watching Naruto. The blonde seemed pleased to be with Kiba. He wrapped an arm around Kiba's neck, and pumped his other fist in the air. Exclaiming. "Now what?! Now what?!" Sasuke rolled his eyes. Kiba pulled his coat sleeve up and looked at his watch. It was 12:15AM. It was almost time.

"Now we spread out...and wait for _her_ to arrive." Kiba explained raising his eyebrows. Naruto nodded his head.

"The last bus leaves at 1:00AM," Shikamaru spoke in a droll. "If we miss it...it'll be troublesome for all of us." Sasuke shook his head in agreement stuffing his hands in his coat pocket. He was relieved there was someone else in the group who was level-headed. The wind picked up again.

"Listen here you-you non-believers!" Kiba said irritatingly moving the flashlight to both Shikamaru's and Sasuke's faces. 

"Yeah! Yeah!" Naruto backed Kiba up raising his own flashlight accusingly. Both Shikamaru and Sasuke covered their eyes with their hands, blocking out the blinding light, shown accusatory on them. 

"You two walk back down the tracks that way...keep going until you can't see or hear us, and then...wait. That way you'll be closer to the bus stop." Naruto nodded his head in agreement to everything Kiba said. Both of them lowered their flashlights.

"Go that way...that way!" Naruto echoed shooing the non-believers.

"Choji, Lee...you two go up the train tracks, over that bend and do the same. Whereas, Naruto and I will remain here in the middle...the most _likely_ spot she'll show," Kiba rolled his eyes to meet Naruto. _"Yeah...we'll stay here! We're not afraid!"_

"Choji...you don't have to do this," Shikamaru spoke just as Choji and Lee were about to turn and walk up the train tracks.

Choji gripped both hands into fists and nodded his head up and down repeating, "I do this is a test of courage, Shikamaru!" Lee nodded his head face twisting into determination, "This is not only a test of courage but it'll be a test of our youth! Youth will prevail! Come on Choji, we can't give up!" "Mhm!" The two disappeared around the bend.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru responded before turning around and walking down the train tracks. 

Sasuke looked at Naruto and smirked, "Try not to get scared, scaredy-cat." 

Sasuke spun on his heels following Shikamaru. Naruto laughed, throwing both hands at the back of his head. He watched as the two began walking away from them until the darkness swallowed them up.

*****

Naruto and Kiba had the tops of their heads touching as they stared down at Kiba's wrist watch, both their eyes unblinking, as it moved from 12:29AM to 12:30AM. They both looked at each other's eyes. Naruto's blue eyes meeting Kiba's chocolate brown eyes. "It's time!" They both spoke in unison.

*****

"If we leave by 12:40AM we can make it back to the bus station before the last bus leaves," Shikamaru strategized. "Hmph." Sasuke grunted, his arms folding, and staring down the train tracks at the inky blackness on where Naruto and Kiba were. 

Shikamaru stared at Sasuke for a moment before asking, "Are you upset that you're not paired up with Naruto?"

"What did you say?" Sasuke asked turning towards Shikamaru his eyebrows furrowing. "With that idiot? Ha!" 

"Why don't you just admit that you care about Naruto and that is why you're here?" Shikamaru asked raising his eyebrows in disbelief. Sasuke wasn't able to answer, because two gunshots ring out. They both seized up.

*****

"I won't tell anybody if you don't tell anybody!" Lee whimpered. Choji nodded his head in agreement. They were both hugging each other. "S-s-see? It's l-l-less scary when we're like th-this!" Lee spoke his voice quivering. "We'll just wait like this for a few more minutes and then head back!" "Okay."

They stood in silence for a moment before Choji asked, "Do you see anything, Lee?" 

"N-no."

"Are your eyes closed?" 

"Y-yes."

"Mine are too."

They both started laughing. Their grip loosening on each other. Fear melted away into hysterics. They heard two gunshots. Bang. Bang. Their laughter stopped immediately. Fear took hold again. Nails dug into each other's coats. Their breath stopped, and hearts pounded painfully in their rib cage.

*****

Naruto and Kiba were back to back and looked around them. Eyes straining in the darkness. Both afraid to blink as they might miss something. They were both standing on the platform. They began to hear voices coming from the side, where the thick woods began. Voices filtered through the trees and into the clearing.

"Turn your light off." Kiba whispered, and Naruto complied. Both turning to where the woods began. Kiba grabbed hold of Naruto and pulled him after as he crouched besides one of the pillars of the train station. Naruto crouched besides him, one hand resting on Kiba's shoulder and the other resting on the ground. The voices grew louder.

Two black figures emerged from the woods. Clouds moved away from the the first quarter moon. Light illuminated down and bathed everything in an eerie blue hue. It wasn't just two men...there was a third man between them being half-dragged. The other man was slammed down onto his knees. One man standing behind, and the other in front. Flanking the man in the middle.

The man on his knees had his arms bound together behind him. A piece of cloth wrapped around his mouth. The man was pleading, begging, large tears rolling down his cheeks. The bound man's head moved violently from side to side as he sobbed.

"Please…I have kids at home…please...I won't say anything...I'll-" the man whimpered. The man in front of him grabbed a fist full of hair and yanked his head forward silencing him.

"You're one of the Hokage's guys...and see Danzo told us to take care of you the only way we know how. You have to understand...I also have kids...and I also have to feed them." The man pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man. "The only difference between you and me is that you chose the wrong side. It's nothing personal."

Naruto wrapped his hands around Kiba. One hand cupped Kiba's mouth, and the other shielded Kiba's eyes. Naruto wanted to run away but was too afraid. If they made one wrong move...one sound they would be found out...and they would be in danger.

"No...no! I'll be quiet...cut my tongue out...anything else...let me live! PLEASE!" The man whimpered, and begged, his face covered in tears and snot. The fear and panic in the man's voice sliced through Naruto.

"There's only one way to ensure your silence." The man pulled the trigger. Once. Bang. Twice. Bang.

Naruto watched as the two bullets entered through the man's forehead, ripped through his frontal cortex, and left the back of his skull. Blood, and brain matter exploding from the back of his skull like confetti.

It went silent. The man slumped to the side making a thudding noise as his motionless body collided with the ground. The moon illuminated the dead man's glassy eyes. Naruto couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes from the sight. He couldn't even blink. He was being swallowed up by those eyes and he was entering the underworld.

"Let's go," The man who fired the gun spoke to his silent partner. The two turned and headed back into the woods. The darkness swallowed the two up instantly.

The color from Naruto's face drained, and he was unable to move his body. Paralyzed. Kiba had pried Naruto's hands from him and was now kneeling in front of Naruto. Naruto's legs gave out from under him, and his arms were placed behind him against the concrete platform. The only things holding his body up.

"Naruto...Naruto...Naruto!" Kiba kept calling his name in rapid fire, but Naruto was expressionless. He was broken. His eyes wide and unblinking. His skull filled with FM radio static. He was simply not there. Kiba shook Naruto but the blonde remained unresponsive.

"Naruto...snap outta it..we hav'ta leave!" Kiba spoke in a panicked whisper. His eyes darting around them fearful they were going to return. "They might come back!" Kiba's ankles gave out and he collapsed onto his knees. He tried to get up but was unable to move. "Shit...shit..."

"Kiba! Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled as both he and Sasuke ran up to the two boys. "SHHH!" Kiba whispered hoarsely his eyes turning back to the woods expecting the two men to emerge.

"What the hell happened?" Sasuke whispered. He kneeled down to look at the panic-stricken face of Kiba, and then his eyes fell to Naruto. It was an expression that Sasuke couldn't imagine Naruto wearing, but here he was. The warmth and life that typically graced Naruto's features was gone and in its place something hollow and empty took hold. Naruto's pupils were so constricted they were tiny pinpricks drowning in the blueness of his eyes. Naruto's eyes were so wide, and unblinking, they were becoming bloodshot.

"Naruto-" Sasuke spoke as he reached out and shook Naruto's shoulders with both hands. "Hey...Naruto..." Sasuke's voice cracked.

"What happened!" Shikamaru demanded again. Choji and Lee came up running. "Shhh!" Kiba repeated again before either Choji and Lee could speak.

"Snap out of it, Naruto," Sasuke huffed before slapping Naruto across the face. He couldn't stand Naruto in this state any longer. The shock was enough to pull the blonde boy back to his senses and back into consciousness. The stinging on his cheek burned and watered his eyes. Before him was Sasuke. He blinked.

"S-s-sa-suke-" Naruto spoke his voice quivering and in disbelief. "Come on, usuratonkachi...we have to get out of here!" Sasuke answered as he threw one of Naruto's arms around his neck. With one hand Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand that was over his shoulder, and the other gripped Naruto's waist. Helping Naruto lift his body upwards. Shikamaru quickly reached for Kiba and helped him to his feet.

"Choji. Lee. Help us quick," Shikamaru responded his voice unnervingly calm given the situation. Although he didn't know what was happening he knew they were all in danger and had to leave. "Now!"

*****

It was 12:55AM when they finally reached the bus stop.

Kiba collapsed onto the bench. His head crumpled into his hands and he kept repeating, "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" It was on repeat and he couldn't stop. Naruto pulled away from Sasuke and steadied himself with one hand against the glass vestibule. He bent over and emptied the contents of his stomach. The sound of Naruto vomiting and liquid splashing against the ground caused Kiba to become silent.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called out in concern. Naruto straightened up staring at Sasuke. No, staring through Sasuke. Wordless. Sweat dripped down from his temples, and he wiped the vomit from his mouth with the back of his hand. Heaving. Sasuke reached out to try and comfort him, but the gesture was ignored.

Naruto pushed passed Sasuke and went to Kiba's side, "Kiba...are you okay?"

"Shit Naruto...why did you…" Kiba began but the words were lost. Kiba's mind was spinning and his thoughts were incoherent. Just a jumbled mess banging on the inside of his skull. "We witnessed...well I didn't...Naruto...you did...why did you…Shit!"

Naruto continued to breath heavily his eyes shifting from Kiba, to Choji, to Lee, to Shikamaru, and finally back to Sasuke. Reading the emotions etched on their faces. Concern. Confusion. Shock. Sasuke's expression shot an arrow through Naruto's heart. Naruto breathed in again. His throat burned and his stomach rumbled. Everybody was safe. Everybody was unharmed. Naruto exhaled. Closed his eyes. Inhaled. When he opened his eyes he nodded his head in affirmation. Naruto knew he had to report the crime. He couldn't just go home as if nothing happened. There was a dead man at the Chihiro train station. A rotting corpse at the edge of the woods. 

Everyone was waiting on bated breath. Eyes bouncing from Naruto to Kiba, and back to Naruto.

"I'm going to call the police...Choji, Lee, Shikamaru...Sasuke...get on the bus and go back home. This doesn't concern you," Naruto spoke sternly. 

"Like hell it doesn't! I'm not leaving you!" Sasuke spoke angrily walking up to him. Naruto flinched and Sasuke paused.

"No! There's no point in all of us getting into trouble! You weren't there, Sasuke!" Naruto spoke accusatory, almost as if he was angry Sasuke wasn't there besides him. Those blue eyes narrowed before repeating, "This doesn't concern you. Any of you!" 

Kiba looked up and stared at Naruto. Kiba knew Naruto was right, and turned his attention to the rest of them. "He's right…I-" Kiba ran a hand through his hair knowing very well what Naruto met. "It doesn't concern you…I too...you guys, please get on the bus and leave. There's no point in you being dragged into this..." There was a long impregnable pause.

"Naruto...Kiba…" Shikamaru began carefully. He paused and thought about it before nodding his head in agreement. "I see."

As if on cue the bus rolled up and opened its doors. Shikamaru turned towards the bus speaking over his shoulder, "Choji, Lee...Sasuke...let's go." Sasuke gave one more hard stare at Naruto, who turned his attention elsewhere. Sasuke turned angrily from Naruto and followed Shikamaru.

*****

"Why...why did we listen to them? Why are we on the bus?" Sasuke snapped at Shikamaru. Sasuke was shaky and unsure of what to do, but followed Shikamaru nonetheless. The other boy was as cool as a cucumber and it was unnerving almost as if he wasn't even human. The bus closed its doors and began shifting gears; vibrating as it revved.

Choji and Lee sat dumbfounded in plastic bucket seats. They remained quiet throughout the bus ride. Sasuke and Shikamaru stood side by side both gripping the silver pole as the bus jutted forward. Although there were empty seats neither of them could bring themselves to sit down. Standing up was the only logical thing to do. They were both on pins and needles, and relaxing was out of the question.

Shikamaru remained calm. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. He read the situation easier than Sasuke.

"Whatever they witnessed...it would only cause them more problems if we stayed. Especially if it was something that they needed to call the police. Think about the situation. We heard gunshots, and then found them in that state. They probably witnessed a shooting..." Shikamaru's voice was low. Sasuke turned to look at Shikamaru as he explained. "Besides..." Shikamaru's eyes looked out the window and back at the bus stop as it shrank in the distance, "I don't think they wanted us to witness them crying. They're our friends, and we need to trust them."

"Hmph!" Sasuke huffed. He gripped the silver pole so tightly his knuckles turned white and his stomach filled with bile and regret filled his brain. He regretted his choice when picking the stupid stick. Blaming himself for not being able to be paired up with Naruto. Thinking if only they had been paired up none of this would have happened, or if it did...he'd be alongside Naruto at the bus stop and Kiba would be next to Shikamaru on the bus. He thought if he was just with Naruto then he wouldn't be feeling this way and he'd be able to help Naruto get through it. Together. They should have been together. The longer he was on the bus the more he regretted ever getting on the bus and the more he regretted not being with Naruto. Hating himself for stepping on the bus and not remaining with Naruto.

*****

Naruto held the payphone in his hand and shakily pressed the 9-1-1 buttons on the dial pad. Naruto glanced over his shoulder at Kiba who remained sitting on the bench. 

"911, what's your emergency?"

"My name is...Naruto...and I...I...," Naruto began crying and he pressed his forehead against the payphone. He wasn't able to keep it inside any longer. The tears poured down his cheeks and blurred his vision. The panic that had welled up was unleashed and he started sobbing on the phone. 

"Naruto...are you hurt?"

"No...I..."

"Where are you? Do you need the police?"

"Yes..." 

"What happened?"

"I saw somebody...somebody was killed...they shot him with a gun." 

"Where are they now?"

"I don't know...gone..."

"Where are you?"

"Chihiro Bus Stop." 

"The police are on their way...Naruto can you stay on the phone with me until they arrive?"

"Yes." 

"Is there anybody else with you--"

"I want my dad...can you call him?"

"Whose your dad?"

"..."

"Naruto...Naruto are you still there?" 

"..."

"Naruto?" 

"Please hurry...I'm scared." Naruto sobbed snot and tears rolled down his face and he used the back of his hand to try to clean himself up.


	4. The Lost Boys

#  The Lost Boys 

 

The next morning at school both Naruto and Kiba were absent.

The absence weighed heavier on Sasuke than he anticipated. It wasn't until that evening when Sasuke turned the television on did he realize what had happened. Although, their names were omitted from the report it was still evident what exactly Naruto and Kiba had witnessed. A pit formed in Sasuke's stomach and he found it difficult to swallow.

Across the breaking news banner at the bottom of the screen read: **TWO BOYS WITNESSED A MURDER**. Arial bold.

The reporter was an older woman with angled black hair. She held the microphone in one hand and the other was pointed at the abandoned train station behind her. The camera zoomed in and out of the faded, rusted, sign: _Chihiro Station_.

"Two boys came to the abandoned train station as a test of courage, only they got more than they bargained for when they witnessed an execution style murder." She spoke in her best reporter voice. Raising her voice higher on key point words, and lower on others to emphasis her point. Behind her were multiple crime scene investigators, yellow caution tape outlined the crime scene, and multiple vehicles littered the background.

"A source tells us that one of the boys testified hearing one of the men saying Shimura Danzo's name. Danzo, who we are all aware of publicly endorsed and supported Uchiha Fugaku during the election against Namikaze Minato. Today, Danzo continues to speak out against the Yondaime and the administration." The reporter continued.

The news screen flipped to a red-headed reporter standing outside of the Uchiha Police Station a microphone held out to one of the police officers who had exited the building, "Excuse me, sir...are the police going to be questioning Shimura Danzo in connection to the body found at the old Chihiro Train Station?"

"I'm sorry I cannot answer any questions." The police officer responded roughly before waving the microphone away.

The news screen moved to two news anchors back in the studio. The camera focused on a busty woman and a man with a movie-star smile. 

"Do you think the police will question Shimura Danzo?" the female news anchor asked her male cohort.

"Danzo is too heavily linked with the police, so even if they do question him...there won't be any charges brought up against him."

"The Uchiha Police Force continues to be put under pressure from the Yondaime administration for the way they handled certain cases, which allowed notorious criminals getting away. Mishandling of evidence...or evidence going completely missing. Police officers are being accused of witness tampering, and illegal search and seizures. They are being highly scrutinized by the citizens of Konoha...especially since they couldn't capture that serial child rapist and murderer-"

The television turned black and Sasuke saw his mother in the reflection of the blackened screen.

"Sasuke, go to your room now!" His mother chastised. "I will not allow you to watch such news that criticizes your father!"

*****

Two weeks had passed before Kiba returned to school.

The moment Kiba entered the classroom he was quickly surrounded by their classmates. The class deducted that the two children who witnessed the murder were none other than Kiba and Naruto; as neither returned to class following the incident.

Sasuke remained seated, and quickly exchanged nervous glances with both Choji and Shikamaru. They also remained seated. All three sitting tensely in their chairs. Lee was a grade ahead of everybody and therefore in a different class. The desk besides Sasuke remained empty. There was a hole inside Sasuke's chest and it was steadily growing ever since Naruto's absence.

"Class. Return to your seats!" The teacher spoke briskly along with the clap of her hands. She planted herself firmly behind Kiba. The teacher's hands rested on top of Kiba's shoulder, as she watched like a hawk everyone pull away and return to their assigned seats. The teacher squeezed Kiba's shoulders reassuringly before nodding at the rest of the class as soon as they were all seated.

"Due to recent circumstances, it is being requested that students refrain from asking Kiba-," the teacher's eyes slid to the empty chair next to Sasuke before returning her attention to the rest of the class, "-and Naruto from any questions regarding the… uh...incident. Does everybody understand?"

"Yes!" the children voiced as one. "Once more with conviction!" The teacher commanded. "YES!" "Good. Good." She squeezed Kiba's shoulders again, "Kiba you may return to your seat." Kiba shrugged away, and slid into the empty desk besides Hinata.

*****

The desk besides Sasuke remained empty for the remainder of the week. On Friday afternoon after the class was dismissed for the day Sasuke hung back as he watched the last classmate leave the room. Once he was alone he began walking up to the teacher, who was busy erasing the chalk from the board. When the teacher was done she placed the eraser back on the board and turned around. Upon seeing Sasuke she jumped and her hand clasped to her chest. 

"You scared me, Sasuke! Next time speak up if you're going to stand behind me! Jeez."

"I'm sorry."

Sasuke gripped the strap of his messenger bag and shifted the weight around before clearing his throat. The hole that was growing in his chest was increasing, making it difficult to breath, difficult to focus, and threatened to grow so big it would swallow him into darkness if he didn't do something about it.

"Now...what can I do for you Mr. Uchiha?"

*****

Sasuke stood outside the gate of the Yondaime's home.

It was a circular, red, two story house behind a gate that surrounded the perimeter. The stone walls were tall and the iron gate remained locked. Black eyes stared up at the camera that was poised at him. A motion track camera that moved whenever Sasuke moved. ' _Hn_.' Sasuke then pressed the button on the screen that was mounted to the stone wall.

"Yes?" A curt voice answered. 

Sasuke pressed the button again this time holding it down, cleared his throat, and spoke clearly into the speaker, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke and I'm from Naruto's class…I am dropping off his assignments." Sasuke let go of the button and stood back, bringing his attention back to the camera. Waiting. After a moment there was a loud clicking noise.

"You may come in," the curt voice answered.

The inside of the house wasn't what Sasuke was expecting. It wasn't lavish, expensive, or cold. Contrary to his own home that looked like it was from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Inside this home it was warm, and decorated with colorful and mismatched decorations. The walls had framed photos of Naruto in various stages of his life. From a baby picture, to him as a toddler wearing only pampers, to a picture of him in his karate gi uniform.

The inside looked like somebody, a family, actually lived there...not at all like a museum. _No_ , Sasuke thought as he brought his attention to the man who let him inside. This was definitely a home. It felt like a home. And it made perfect sense that this was Uzumaki Naruto's home.

"Where is Naruto?"

"Upstairs. Second bedroom on the right," the man answered curtly. His nose pointed upwards.

*****

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he swung the bedroom door open to reveal his bedroom. And a very messy bedroom it was. There were toys, books, clothes, and games skewed about the room in no rhyme or reason. Even Naruto's bed was unmade with one pillow laying on the floor besides his nightstand. Naruto stood barefoot. He was still dressed in his pale-blue long-sleeved button-up pajamas, and recovering from the shock of seeing Sasuke. In his house, and outside his bedroom. 

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked in disbelief. Sasuke balled up his fist and gently bopped Naruto on the head with it. 

"I'm here to see you, usuratonkachi." Sasuke then invited himself into Naruto's bedroom. Naruto stole a quick glance down the hallway, before swiftly shutting the door, and locking it.

"How...how do you know where I live?" Naruto asked suspiciously his back pressed up against the bedroom door. 

"The teacher told me." 

Sasuke looked around the room before turning his attention back to Naruto. Silence. Silence. Silence. Naruto's gaze focused somewhere down and to the left.

"Why aren't you going to school?" Sasuke asked breaking the silence. Naruto instinctively brought one hand to the back of his head and smiled nervously. 

"I'm...sick!" 

"You don't look sick," Sasuke fired back as soon as Naruto stopped talking. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto's obviously forced smile. Silence. Silence. Silence.

"Kiba returned to class." Sasuke continued. Naruto nodded his head up and down, avoided Sasuke's gaze entirely. He moved from the door, past Sasuke, and climbed back into bed mumbling, "That's good...that's very good. I'm glad."

"Naruto." Sasuke spoke as he turned around to watch Naruto grab hold of his comforter in one hand, and leaned down to grab hold of the pillow that had fallen with the other. The blonde boy clearly ignoring him. "NARUTO!" Sasuke spoke louder. Naruto winced as if he was struck across the face.

Naruto continued moving around the bed, but stopped when Sasuke grabbed hold of his wrist demanding, "Look at me!" Sasuke hadn't witnessed Naruto in this state before and it was beginning to cause panic within Sasuke. He didn't like it and he wanted it to stop. 

Naruto turned to face Sasuke he was wearing a crooked smile and he began laughing loudly, "You should see yourself right now, Sasuke...you look so serious. I'm fine. I'm fine, y'know! I'm just getting over a cold is all."

"Your face doesn't match the look in your eyes. Why are you lying to me?" Sasuke accused he grabbed hold of Naruto's chin and he stared hard into Naruto's too blue eyes. 

"What?" Naruto asked in a voice full of surprise pushing Sasuke's hand away from his face. "I'm fine...I'm really fine…" Naruto spoke but as he did his eyes welled up with water and tears began to overflow. Tears began trickling down his cheeks in steady streams. "I'm fine...I'm really...really…"

Sasuke didn't know what he was doing. He let go of the boy's wrist, and instead wrapped his arms around Naruto and enveloped him into a deep hug. Sasuke pulled him close, so close that Naruto's tear stricken face buried into his chest. Held onto him so tightly. He wasn't going to let him go. He was afraid if he let go Naruto would disappear and that thought frightened Sasuke to his very core.

"It's okay...Naruto...you don't have to hide how you're really feeling. I'm here," Sasuke whispered. It only caused Naruto to cry louder and heavier. The blonde boy's body trembling as he cried into Sasuke's chest. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke and pulled him closer. Clinging to him as tightly as Sasuke clung back.

*****

Sasuke and Naruto laid side by side on Naruto's bed. Sasuke's shoes and school bag laid neatly on the floor at the foot of the bed. Forgotten. The rest of the room was forgotten. It was just Naruto and Sasuke in the room on the bed. The rest of the world was forgotten.

Naruto just finished telling Sasuke what he witnessed at the Chihiro Train Station, and concluded with explaining how he couldn't sleep. Because when he closed his eyes he kept having nightmares. Kept hearing the gunshots. Kept seeing the blood. Kept seeing the brain matter explode like confetti out his skull. Kept seeing and hearing the man's body thudding lifelessly to the ground...and kept seeing the man's glassy eyes pulling Naruto into the underworld with him.

"I missed you," Sasuke spoke before he realized what he was even saying. This caused Naruto to roll over onto his side and stare at him. He had just finished spilling his guts and the only thing Sasuke responded with was...' _I miss you_.'

"What did you say?" 

Sasuke swallowed and continued to stare up at the ceiling clarifying, "I missed you...it...it isn't the same without you…" Sasuke rolled over to his side to look at Naruto. Studying his face. The tan skin. The blonde hair. The blue eyes. The smoothness of his lips. His voice. Sasuke could fall asleep listening to Naruto's voice. It was too long since he last heard his voice, seen him, spoken to him, and been close to him like this.

The blonde boy had calmed down, and was beginning to both look and sound like himself again, and it was a relief to Sasuke. The hole in Sasuke's chest was shrinking exponentially. Being close to Naruto, was calming him down internally, and he could finally breath easily. 

Naruto broke out into his genuine, warm, one-hundred watt smile. It was a smile that was meant for Sasuke and Sasuke alone. Sasuke could feel himself blushing as his cheeks began to burn with embarrassment. He quickly stuck his hand out covering Naruto's face, "Usuratonkachi...don't look at me like that...just hurry up and get better so you can go back to school!"

*****

Sasuke continued to lay there staring at Naruto long after the other boy had fallen asleep. Sasuke looked at Naruto's hand that was linked with his, and even though Naruto slept his hold was still tight. Sasuke brushed his fingers against the skin of Naruto's hand, but continued to allow Naruto to hold onto him. Because the truth was he didn't want to let go. The blonde boy's features were softened. Sasuke began studying his face...round, soft, childish. Blonde hair falling into his face. Lips slightly apart as he slept.

Yes...Sasuke felt calm and relaxed whenever he was alongside Naruto. The hole in his chest had shrunk completely. Naruto moved in his sleep, rolling onto his back, arms sprawled out on either side of him. He was still holding Sasuke's hand. No. Sasuke was holding Naruto's hand...the blonde let go long ago. Small child-like snores escaped his sleeping friend. Sasuke watched as Naruto smacked his lips in his sleep. 

Sasuke pushed himself up and leaned over Naruto. He was thinking...thinking about how it would feel to press his lips against Naruto's. Just thinking if they would feel soft and warm against Sasuke's.

No! No! No!

Sasuke laid back down for a few minutes. Debating. Tossing the idea around even further. His fingers went to his lips and he began picking at the thin skin along his bottom lip. ' _I wonder_ ', Sasuke thought about it again. Pushed himself back up, and leaned over Naruto.

Sasuke gently lowered himself down, and as softly as a breeze he pressed his lips to Naruto's and kissed him. He pulled himself away and whispered against Naruto's mouth, "Usuratonkachi." 

Sasuke felt heat rise beneath his cheeks, and felt a warmness as if plunging into a hot spring all throughout his body. Sasuke's eyelids dropped, and he laid back down besides Naruto, curling up on his side and cuddling up next to Naruto. Their hands still linked and intertwined. Sasuke drifted off into sleep keeping the secret of what he had just did to himself.


	5. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

# Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

 

They were all thirteen.

The sun was lazily crawling across the sky erupting the sky in a fire of reds, oranges, and yellows. It was a stifling 80 degrees Fahrenheit, high humidity, low chance of wind. It wasn't getting any cooler even with the setting sun. The cicadas hummed and a bird cawed in the distance. 

Naruto was out on the soccer field dribbling the soccer ball in and out of strategically placed orange cones. He was covered in a thin layer of sweat so much that his seaweed colored polyester soccer jersey clung to his body. There was the number 10 outlined in thick bold white on his back and above the number was printed: Uzumaki.

When Naruto finished the course he stopped the soccer ball with his foot, and kicked it towards Sasuke who began dribbling the ball in and out of the orange cones. Naruto watched Sasuke's back as he effortlessly maneuvered through the orange cones. Sasuke wore the same seaweed colored jersey only his number was 23 and Uchiha was printed neatly across his shoulder blades. 

"Yo...Naruto!" Kiba called as he ran up. Naruto was doubled over and panting. 

"Hey, Kiba." 

Naruto straightened up just as Kiba kicked a soccer ball towards him. Naruto stopped the ball with the bottom of his cleat, and began shuffling the ball back and forth between his feet.

Kiba smirked, and gestured towards a group of girls that had gathered on the bleachers. They were gossiping, and watching the boys as they practiced. Naruto stopped the soccer ball, and placed one foot on top of the ball, following Kiba's gaze.

"What do you think?" Kiba asked excitedly raising his eyebrows up and down. "Hm?" Naruto asked as he grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled the material up and away from his skin. Naruto began moving the fabric up and down causing a cool breeze to form against his exposed stomach and back. 

"Ahhh...this feels better." Kiba rolled his eyes.

"I'm having a party this Friday...you coming?" Kiba said with a lopsided grin. Kiba leaned in closer whispering, "I can snag a few bottles from my parents liquor cabinets. Whaddya think?"

"Whose all going?" Naruto asked as his eyes scanned the girls on the bleachers. 

"If I said Sakura was going...would you be excited?" Naruto's eyes lit up and he laughed nervously. 

Sasuke ran up behind Naruto finishing the orange cone course. He kicked the soccer ball towards Naruto's head with pinpoint precision before warning, "Head's up, Naruto!" 

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke, but the soccer ball smashed against the back of his head before ricocheting off. Naruto's vision turned black and he swore he saw tiny yellow stars dancing around.

"Ah...you bastard!" Naruto yelled as he brought a hand up to the back of his skull. "That really hurt! Why did you do that?"

Sasuke laughed and came to a stop besides Naruto and Kiba. "Nice one," Kiba congratulated Sasuke with his lopsided grin and a nod of approval. 

"Pay more attention to your surroundings, usuratonkachi!" Sasuke said with a smirk as he began running in place. Kiba laughed and ran his fingers through thick spiky brunette hair; stealing another glance at the group of girls on the bleachers.

"You assholes," Naruto growled, "What if I got a concussion?" 

"Nah, your skulls too thick for that." 

Naruto continued to massage the back of his skull fingers moving through blonde hair. Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke asking, "Are you going, ya sneaky bastard?" 

"Going where?" Sasuke asked as he began stretching his arms.

"I'm having a party this Friday...you in?" Kiba asked finally tearing his eyes away from the bleachers; throwing his arms behind his head.

"Kiba said there would be liquor and girls," Naruto spoke with a small laugh. Sasuke laughed loudly and threw his head back, "...and what exactly do you two know about liquor and girls?" 

Naruto lowered his hand, shrugged, and smiled at Sasuke arrogantly, "Well...more than you if you don't come to the party."

Sasuke's smirk didn't waver as he moved his head side to side rolling the idea around.

"Uzumaki! Uchiha! Inuzuka!" the booming voice of their coach electrified the air and they all flinched. "If you want to play the next game I better see less standing around and more balls being kicked! You better bring me the championship trophy this year!"

"Tell me about it…expectations wanting a girl riding my balls...reality coach riding my balls," Kiba said rolling his eyes, as Naruto kicked the ball back to Kiba. He stopped the ball easily with his cleat and began kicking the ball back across the field. Naruto let out a refreshing full belly laugh. Sasuke glanced at Naruto, watching him laugh for a moment. Sasuke smiled to himself before retrieving the soccer ball that had ricocheted off Naruto's head.

*****

"So...now what?" Sakura asked as she joined everyone who was seated in a circle. 

They were all seated in Kiba's living room. His parents were both veterinarians and there was animal memorabilia all over the walls, furniture, and floors. Sakura's pink hair was pulled back into a red ribbon, black mascara clumped her eyelashes and thick lip gloss plumped her lips. Naruto found himself staring at Sakura's lips, unable to look away. Kiba's parents were away for the night on a veterinarian training conference. 

"It's simple...the game is called spin the bottle. You spin the bottle, and if it points to someone, ya gotta kiss them." Kiba explained as he demonstrated by placing an empty glass beer bottle in the center of the circle and spinning it around. The bottle stopped spinning, and the head of the bottle pointed directly at Sasuke.

"Yeeeah...I'm not playing this," Sasuke said matter-of-factly as he began to stand up. Naruto immediately grabbed hold of Sasuke's hand. 

"What...are you being a scaredy-cat?" 

Sasuke looked down at Naruto holding his hand, he furrowed his eyebrows, before ripping his hand from his grasp. Nonetheless he sat back down alongside the blonde. Black eyes rolling up towards the ceiling in contempt, "I'm not kissing anybody out in the open." 

"Okay...okay...fine you don't have to do it publicly out here," Kiba explained gesturing wildly towards all the space around them with his hands, "You can go in there...and kiss...or y'know...whatever!" Kiba then gestured towards the closet as he raised his eyebrows up and down.

"Isn't this...kinda like...incest…?" Ino asked as she looked around at everyone in the circle. Her green eyes scrutinizing everyone she looked at, "I mean...we've all known each other since we were like...what...five?" Ino was the only other blonde in the room but her hair was cooler, more white, whereas Naruto's hair was warmer like sunshine.

"No...no...it won't be!" Sakura spoke quickly her eyes focusing on Sasuke as she spoke. Sasuke glanced at Sakura for a fraction of a second before rolling his eyes again back to the ceiling. 

Sakura continued, "I mean...just think of it as practice...y'know for when we're older." Ino followed Sakura's eyes and she too began staring at Sasuke. The probability was high at least one of them would land on Sasuke. 

Ino agreed, "Yeah...you're right! Sooo...whose first?"

"I'll go!" Kiba said finally, "It's my party after all…" Kiba grabbed hold of the bottle and began spinning. Every set of eyes were focused on the bottle watching it spin round and round. Until it stopped and the eyes moved toward it's target. Yamanaka Ino. "Of course." Ino exhaled, as she rolled her eyes, getting up.

"Let's go...Kiba, but I'm warning you...you try pulling any weird shit and I'm kneeing you in the balls!" Ino lectured as Kiba followed. 

"It's coach all over again," Kiba bent down, whispering into Naruto's ear as he passed. Naruto burst out laughing. Roughly ten seconds passed before the closet door flew open and Ino and Kiba came out to a group of whoops and shouts.

"Sakura…you're next" Kiba exclaimed. "Wait...What...why me?" Sakura asked suddenly feeling more insecure. Kiba shrugged, "It should go boy-girl-boy-girl...right?"

Sakura than grabbed hold of the bottle her eyes staring directly at Sasuke as she spun it. The bottle went round and round and round until…

"-me again?" Ino cried out as the bottle pointed towards her. "This...doesn't count I mean we're both girls!"

"Oh it counts!" both Naruto and Kiba said in union as they both sat upright. They both looked at each other and began laughing. Ino and Sakura disappeared into the closet. This time it was most definitely longer than 10 seconds. Almost thirty seconds passed until the door opened. Only this time the room was quiet. Naruto and Kiba glanced at each other before they both looked away with embarrassment of where their minds went. 

"What's with the faces...ever seen two girls kissing? Yeah while you won't now." Ino shouted, wavering her hand at the crowd, as she returned to her seat. 

"Lee you're up!" Kiba commanded trying to hide the smile that was on his lips as his imagination went wild. "Okay!" Lee grabbed hold of the bottle and spun it. The bottle flung with such velocity from his hands, it flipped up, and rolled away between Kiba and Hinata, before coming to a stop once it hit the wall.

"What-does that mean?" Lee asked. Kiba shrugged, "It means you don't kiss anyone. Hinata! You're up!" "Oh" Lee spoke softly.

"What...me?" Hinata spoke quietly her face turning the color of a squashed tomato. Hinata stood up, her legs shaking as she collected the bottle and returned to her seat. Hinata closed her eyes and spun the bottle. Round and round it went.

"Ohhhh!" Kiba called out excitedly as the bottle stopped. Hinata opened her eyes and followed the bottle to Uzumaki Naruto. "Huh! Oh!" Hinata sputtered out. Naruto was seated cross legged, both arms spread out behind him supporting his weight. He blinked once. Twice.

"It's me…" Naruto spoke somewhat in shock. "Yeah it's you! Get in the closet, dude!" Kiba spoke excitedly pumping one fist into the air. Naruto looked nervously at Sasuke, who turned his eyes to greet Naruto. Sasuke's expression was deadpan yet somehow he had an air of accusatory anger directed at the blonde. Naruto turned to Kiba who was so excited he was rocking back and forth in anticipation. 

"You're way too excited for Naruto to go into the closet, Kiba," Ino voiced. "My boy is finally going to become a man!" Kiba voiced as he pounded his chest with his closed fist and flashed Naruto a peace sign.

Sasuke didn't realize how hard he was glaring at the closet door until he felt his eyes straining. He went to rub them just as the closet door opened and both Naruto and Hinata stumbled out. Their faces mirrored each others. Squashed tomatoes. Sasuke watched Naruto carefully, trying to read his face which was a mixture between embarrassment and shell-shock. Hinata's face was flushed and bright red and she was unable to speak. Naruto returned to sitting. Sasuke exhaled.

"Sasuke's turn!" Kiba shouted. At this both Sakura and Ino perked up. Sasuke rolled his eyes and reached towards the bottle, he inhaled and spun the bottle. Sasuke watched the bottle as it spun round and round...until….

"Uzumaki Naruto!" everyone spoke in unison as the bottle landed on the blonde boy. The only ones quiet were Naruto and Sasuke. Both boys blinked.

Both Ino and Sakura moved their head first from the left, paused, and then moved their head to the right. 

"Oh," Ino and Sakura spoke in unison. They then turned and caught each other's eyes, both their faces turning pink and flustered. 

"Oh yeah...you gotta do it!" Ino spoke quickly nodding her head yes. "I mean...Ino and I did so you definitely have to...yeah you two most definitely have to go into the closet!" Sakura concluded her head bobbing up and down.

Ino's pale green eyes and Sakura's emerald green eyes bore into both Naruto's and Sasuke's back as they walked into the closet and closed the door.

*****

The closet was cramped, it was even smaller than what Sasuke saw from the outside. Naruto and Sasuke stood in front of each other. Naruto had grown taller and leaner, but there was still baby fat on him, and his face was still round and soft. Whereas Sasuke had matured, he was still taller than Naruto by a few inches, and although he still had baby fat on his body his face had more straight angles and sharp edges.

"Do you think they really kissed?" Naruto asked the moment the closet door shut. "Or do you think...they just stood here until it was time to leave, y'know?" Pause. Pause. Pause.

"What about you...did you and Hinata kiss?" Sasuke asked. Naruto looked up at Sasuke, "Oh…" he confessed shaking his head side to side, "No...we didn't. We just talked." Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, and before he could even comprehend his own actions he was pulling his face down and closer to Naruto's.

Closing the gap with each millisecond until he pressed his lips up against Naruto's. The blonde boy's mouth tasted like cheap alcohol and sugar. Naruto's mouth was slightly agape as Sasuke pressed his lips to his and he was forced to allow his mouth to open even further and allow Sasuke's tongue passage in. It was sloppy, wet, and inexperienced. Naruto didn't know what was happening, and thought he probably wasn't even doing it right, but he kissed Sasuke back. Naruto's mind whirled with thoughts and emotions and images. He felt blood rushing to his groin as he felt Sasuke's tongue glide against his tongue. 

Sasuke pressed his body up against Naruto's causing the blonde's back to fall back and hit the wall.

Sasuke pulled away, quickly coming to his senses. Cold air rushed around their exposed mouths as Sasuke brought his fingers to his own lips. Shrugging Sasuke said nonchalantly, "I don't really get what the big deal is. Sakura is right...it is good for practice."

Naruto also came to his senses and punched Sasuke in the shoulder. Hard. "You bastard! I didn't want my first kiss to be with you!" 

Sasuke laughed at a distant memory. Naruto opened up the closet door and came face to face with the rest of the party members. All eyes focused on Sasuke and Naruto. Wide eyes. Tight lipped. The blonde rolled his eyes and threw both hands up and behind his head as he walked out, "You bastards can't we have some privacy here! Shoo...shoo..."

*****

Sasuke turned the key into the lock and it clicked open, before turning the door handle and opening the door to his home. The insides were quiet, still, and lifeless. Sasuke sighed and closed the door shut, fingers moving to re-lock the front door. His mind replaying the party in it's entirety, until the end when he kissed Naruto. Yeah, he replayed that part over and over again. He smiled at the memory.

"Sasuke." A stern voice came from behind. Sasuke turned around and greeted his father with a short bow. Sasuke was shocked to find his father home, and waiting for him. The only indication Sasuke had that he was waiting was the loosened tie around his neck and a rocks glass filled with amber whiskey in his hand.

"Were you with the Hokage's brat tonight?" Fugaku demanded. Sasuke shifted his eyes from the right to the left. He didn't know how he should answer, but he knew lying wouldn't benefit him if Fugaku already knew the answer and was using this as a test. 

"Yeah...I-"

"Good. Good." Fugaku interrupted before Sasuke could offer an explanation. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Follow me. There's something I want you to do." Sasuke hesitated for a moment, swallowed, and followed his father down the corridor.

Fugaku sat in his leather chair behind his mahogany desk, and Sasuke chose to remain standing. Fugaku brought the rocks glass to his mouth and he took a swig of whiskey before looking up at Sasuke.

"You've gotten pretty close with him haven't you...aren't you a little too obsessed with him? It's not healthy. Maybe you should distance yourself from him."

Sasuke's breath caught in his throat as he stared back at his father. He was unable to say anything, becoming mute. 

"Your friendship with him can be useful to me. Have you been to his house?"

Sasuke nodded his head yes, his hands locked behind his back. He was clenching his hands into fists. His nails breaking the skin on his palms as he squeezed. 

"Perfect, I heard the Yondaime is very selective of who enters his house. Seems that won't be a problem. The next time you are at his house I want you to find some documents, take pictures of these documents, and email those pictures to me." 

Fugaku pulled from his top desk drawer a single piece of paper and handed it out to Sasuke. He hesitantly took it, and looked down at what was written on the sheet of paper. There were names he didn't recognize. Instructions on what documents are being requested. His eyes fell to two familiar names. Shimura Danzo, the politician businessman, and Mitarashi Anko, the district attorney. Sasuke looked back up to Fugaku wanting an explanation. None was given. 

"Do you understand, Sasuke? It is very important I get these documents. It is very important for the Uchiha. The Yondaime continues to slander the Uchiha name and we will not stand by any longer."

Sasuke nodded his head. Fugaku dismissed Sasuke and he wrapped his hand around the doorknob. Pausing, when Fugaku called out one last time.

"Sasuke...maybe it is time you start distancing yourself from him. It isn't healthy. Your obsession. You'll never live up to Itachi's standards if you continue to hang around that boy. If you want to succeed I recommend you choose your friends a little more carefully. Minato and Naruto are both eyesores and should be eliminated from the spotlight immediately." 

Sasuke opened the door and left his father's office closing the door behind him. 


	6. The Beginning of the End

# The Beginning of the End

 

There was something intuitive about the way Naruto and Sasuke coordinated their teamwork out on the rectangular soccer field. They had the uncanny ability of predicting the other's movements. Where they were, where they were going, and when they were going to arrive. All with pinpoint accuracy. The clock was running out and both teams were tied 4-4.

It was the championship game, and even if Minato wasn't there watching him Naruto wanted to be able to tell his father he had won. He wanted his father to be proud of him...wanted to live up to the expectations of being the Hokage's son. The grades, the popularity, the athletic ability. Naruto was going to prove it all. 

Naruto had successfully interfered, and reclaimed control of the ball. His movements were fluid, first stopping the ball before spinning his body around, and dribbling the ball back down the pitch and towards the other team's goalkeeper. He was soon being surrounded by the other team's players, and before one was able to kick the ball away from him Naruto shouted, "Sasuke!" Before kicking the ball towards what appeared to be an empty patch of field. 

Within seconds Sasuke had appeared catching the ball before it rolled out of bounds, with the inside of his cleats. Sasuke then kicked the ball towards the upper right corner of the goalpost, watching it fly and hit the white netting. Time ran out. There was a blow of a whistle. End game.

They had won.

It was exhilarating. Sasuke was comprehending that he had scored the last point in the game, and he turned around to look for Naruto. He didn't have to look far as the blonde boy was running full throttle at him. Arms spread out, and smiling ear to ear screaming in ecstasy. 

"Ompf!" Sasuke exasperated as Naruto jumped onto Sasuke, wrapping both legs around his torso, swinging one arm around his neck, and pumping one arm in the air screaming, "We won! We won!" Sasuke's arms quickly went out to support him, and his legs moved backwards as he tried to support their weight. He was making a conscious effort not to topple over. 

To Sasuke everybody vanished around them. One by one. Until it was just Sasuke and Naruto left on the field. Until it was just them celebrating the championship victory. Sasuke looked up at the personified sunbeam in his arms. He felt a genuine smile spread his lips and he too began shouting in ecstasy. They had won.

*****

Sasuke lay prostrate on the tatami mat, the white comforter decorated with small green frogs was pulled to his chest, and his arms rested over it. Sasuke was laying beside Naruto's bed. Waiting. It was Naruto's turn to use the bath, and he was left alone inside Naruto's room. Naruto invited Sasuke to spend the night as he wanted to continue to celebrate their victory. Sasuke accepted. 

Sasuke replayed his earlier conversation with Naruto.

It was quiet inside the home. Sasuke commented on the quietness. Naruto confessed that his father often worked long hours, especially putting in longer hours the past year. Naruto explained he was typically left alone to his own devices the majority of the time. "S'okay, I can take care of myself. I don't want to be a burden." Sasuke swallowed and thought about his own parents. Although Fugaku often worked long hours at the Police Station, and his brother was away at boarding school, his mother remained a constant in the household.

Mikoto greeted Sasuke every morning with his packed bento lunch as she sent him off to school with a smile, and provided a home cooked dinner every night. Even if every night was just she and Sasuke eating dinner together. The loneliness inside the Hokage's house physically pained Sasuke when he thought about what Naruto experienced on a daily basis. He wondered what caused Naruto to continue to smile and continue to be positive. 

A thought occurred to Sasuke and he had turned to look at Naruto who was gathering supplies for his bath. 

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke seriously. "Hm?" Sasuke stared at the back of the blonde, a white towel thrown over his shoulders, ready to enter the bath with his bathroom caddy in hand.

"How did your mother die?" 

**THUMP.**

Sasuke watched as the blonde tensed up. Naruto had dropped his caddy of shampoo, conditioner, and soaps. The caddy rolled over spilling the contents out onto the floor. Naruto bent down to pick up the contents.

"She died...she died during childbirth," Naruto answered quietly. 

Immediately Sasuke regretted asking, but he couldn't stop himself from asking even more questions. His desire to know more about Naruto outweighed the desire for Naruto to maintain his privacy. 

"So your surname…?" 

"What about it?" Naruto snapped uncharacteristically as he finished stuffing the bottles and soaps back into the bucket. 

"Why isn't it Namikaze?" 

Naruto stood back up again, his back still facing Sasuke.

"My father wanted me to have something that belonged to my mother, he said that she lived a better life than he did, and therefore wanted me to inherit her last name," Naruto growled as he walked out the bedroom slamming the door closed behind him.

*****

Sasuke continued to lay in bed wide awake staring into the darkness. The curtains of the bay window were opened and pale moonlight filtered in. He thought Naruto was asleep, but the blonde boy poked his head from over his bed and stared down at Sasuke, who stared up at him.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto spoke apologetically. "Hm?" "For earlier...for snapping at you. It's just that...you're my best friend...so I want to tell you things about me but-I"

"Naruto," Sasuke interrupted as he sat up so that he was eye level with Naruto. "You're not a burden. I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable."

Pause. Pause. Pause. A smile broke out over Naruto's features. "Thank you, Sasuke."

This time it was Naruto who moved instinctively, he held out his hand cupping Sasuke's face. He brought his face closer to Sasuke's, tilting his head until his lips brushed against Sasuke's lips. Naruto's eyes were closed, but Sasuke's were wide open. As quickly as it happened it ended. 

Naruto pulled away and Sasuke asked, "What was that for?"

"Practice." Naruto spoke and flashed a peace sign. "I plan on asking Sakura out." 

Sasuke smirked, and taunted, "Well if you kiss like that I feel sorry for any girl that you do date." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"It means you're a bad kisser, usuratonkachi!"

"What!" Naruto spoke angrily as he sat up fully on his bed his legs dangling over the side. 

"You kiss like a fish," Sasuke spoke in his deadpan, matter-of-fact voice. 

"Oh...and you're now the expert?" 

Sasuke stood up and faced Naruto who was still seated on the bed leaning over he explained, "If you're going to kiss someone, you need to do it like this…"

Sasuke brought his face close to Naruto's pressing his lips to Naruto's and oohing his mouth open where he began exploring Naruto's mouth with his tongue, tasting Naruto's mouth, savoring in it. The taste of colgate toothpaste greeted him. The kiss deepened and lengthened. Naruto responded and it was then that Sasuke felt Naruto's tongue against his, felt Naruto's tongue begin to explore his mouth, begin to taste Sasuke. Naruto's interest in kissing back frightened Sasuke. Not only that but he was screaming internally. He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't know what had possessed him. He didn't want to stop and that frightened him back to his senses. Sasuke pulled back, shoving Naruto away with both hands. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, panting.

"Idiot...don't kiss back!" 

Naruto stared up at Sasuke. His expression dazed. His cheeks flushed with pink. Naruto was also breathing heavily. 

"That's how you need to kiss someone," Sasuke recovered and explained, making it out to be a lesson, and nothing more. "The only thing you're missing now is feeling."

Naruto had recovered as well. He laughed and spoke sarcastically, "So...another thing you're better at than me."

Sasuke returned back to his bed, quirked an eyebrow and asked, "So...how many times has it been that Sakura rejected you?" Sasuke was met with a pillow to the face as an answer. 

"Alright enough you bastard! You're s'pposed to be encouraging me, not ripping apart my self-esteem and self-confidence, ya asshole!"

"Hn." Sasuke answered, and as he thought about Sakura rejecting Naruto once again a smile spread his lips.

*****

Sasuke lay in bed listening to Naruto snoring. The house was still and silent. Sasuke moved quietly down the corridor. His movements so particular, so preplanned out, and so patient. Not a sound was audible. The house remained still and silent. As if Sasuke wasn't really there. Just an apparition. Sasuke reached the door to the Yondaime's home office, and tried the door handle. It was unlocked. He heard his father's voice, _'I heard the Yondaime is very selective of who enters his house. Seems that won't be a problem'._

Sasuke pushed open the door and walked into the darkness of the room, quietly sealing the door closed behind him.

_'Sasuke...there's something I want you to do for me…'_

The documents were easy to find. Sasuke pulled out his mobile phone and began to take pictures. Once he was finished he placed everything back and left the room. Returning to Naruto's room. Sasuke moved closer to Naruto who was still fast asleep on his bed. A breeze moved in through the open window. The moon bathed everything in a blue hue. 

_'You've gotten pretty close with him haven't you...aren't you a little too obsessed with him?'_

Sasuke thought to his father's words that echoed inside his skull. He wasn't obsessed. Naruto was just his best friend. They complimented each other. Naruto was the sun and Sasuke was the moon. Like a half-moon cookie. Sasuke wanted to know what was going through Naruto's mind when they kissed. Maybe he was thinking too much into things. It was only practice...like what Naruto said. Sasuke's thoughts scared him. He didn't want to stop kissing Naruto, and he didn't know what that meant...maybe his father was right...maybe he was a little too obsessed with Naruto. 

Sasuke slipped under the covers of his bed and rolled to his side, his back facing Naruto. Sasuke did not sleep that night.

*****

Their happiness was short lived.

The political turmoil within Konoha was steadily increasing and soon it was spilling over from the adult world into the children's world. It began with the assassination of district attorney, Mitarashi Anko. It happened right before she was going to bring a case to the grand jury to indict Shimura Danzo on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, bribery, and witness tampering.

The morning that Anko was to present the case to the grand jury her body was found in her apartment: naked, beaten, tortured, with her throat slashed so severely she was almost decapitated. By the time, Gekko Hayate, took over the case the evidence was destroyed or missing, and the DA's office was unable to indict Danzo; and he was released from police custody.

The public outcry sent shock waves of turmoil throughout Konoha, and the people began protesting and picketing the Uchiha Police Station. They were holding signs that said ' _Justice for Anko_ ', ' _Down with the Corrupt Uchiha_ ', and ' _This is not Animal Farm_ '. They were calling for the Police Commissioner to step down. They were calling for Shimura Danzo to be arrested. They were calling for Namikaze Minato to impose an executive decision on the manner. 

Namikaze Minato publicly announced that if Uchiha Fugaku did not step down as Police Commissioner he would be stripped of all titles and forced to retire indefinitely from the force. The media turned into a frenzy. It was the first time the Yondaime threatened action against the Uchiha Police. Yondaime publicly blamed the Uchiha Police Force for Anko's murder and willingly covering up the crimes of Shimura Danzo. 

The protesters were borderline on rioting, but this resolution was able to quell them...and the people were in full support of the Yondaime's warning. The protesters began chanting ' _Step down, or get fired!_ ' outside the Uchiha Police Station. They weren't going to stop until Fugaku officially stepped down.

*****

Naruto arrived to school, and was greeted by a stone-cold faced Sasuke. 

"S'ske! G'mornin'." Naruto greeted like he always did, and in turn Sasuke turned around and walked away. Sasuke refused to look at him, speak to him, or even acknowledge him.

During class Sasuke propped his head up and turned his body so it faced the window, and his back faced Naruto. Naruto stared hard at Sasuke and chopped it up to Sasuke being particularly moody today and didn't pay it no mind. That is until lunch time rolled around, and instead of Sasuke eating lunch with Naruto, like he had done every day since kindergarten he immediately left the classroom as soon as the lunch bell rang. Sasuke did not return until afternoon class where he continued to ignore Naruto.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called after Sasuke. 

He finally caught up to him in the school yard. Classes were done for the day. Soccer season was over. The school year was coming to an end in a week. It was almost summer break. This was not the way Naruto intended on starting the summer vacation with his best friend. Naruto was determined to figure out what was wrong. Sasuke glanced at Naruto, before turning back around, and quickening his strides. 

"Hey! You bastard! I'm talking to you!" Naruto yelled angrily as he grabbed hold of Sasuke's arm and spun the boy around.

"What's gotten into you today?" Naruto asked his voice no longer angry but saturated with concern. The tone angered Sasuke and his blood began to boil causing him to shove Naruto in the chest yelling, "Leave me alone, Naruto!" The impact shocked Naruto but he still held onto Sasuke. 

"NO! Not until you tell me what's wrong!" Naruto retorted tightening his grip onto Sasuke's bicep.

Sasuke balled up his fist, spun around and punched Naruto in the face. His fist connecting perfectly to Naruto's right cheek. The impact snapped Naruto's head to the left and his grip on Sasuke loosened. Sasuke then swung his foot around and kicked Naruto in the stomach. Naruto's school bag fell to the ground, contents spilling out of it, and he staggered backwards. He was coughing and gasping for air. 

"What the hell Sasuke!" Naruto gasped as he shoved Sasuke with both hands. "What is your problem today?"

Sasuke let out a cold laugh his eyes growing wilder, and dark shadows appearing under his eyes, "My problem...what's MY problem?" Sasuke grabbed hold of the fabric of Naruto's shirt with both hands, spun Naruto around, and shoved Naruto towards the ground. Only letting the fabric slip through his fingers when he was certain the blonde boy lost his balance and collapsed onto his back. Naruto looked up at the sky above him. It was a beautiful periwinkle blue decorated with thick marshmallow clouds. 

"Why don't you talk to your coward of a father-who uses the media to twist and manipulate things instead of having a real fucking conversation with my father-your father who is using MY father as a scapegoat as a result of his incompetence as a leader! Let's talk about THAT, Naruto!"

Naruto pushed himself off from the ground and tackled Sasuke. He threw his entire body weight into the other boy's abdomen slamming Sasuke's body against the concrete. 

"Our fathers have nothing to do with us!" Naruto yelled as he straddled Sasuke and punched him in the face; hoping to knock some sense into him. Sasuke grabbed hold of Naruto's shirt and jammed his skull into Naruto's jaw, headbutting him, and throwing him off of him. Naruto bit his tongue and he felt rusty blood fill his mouth. Naruto's mouth opened and blood poured down the sides of his mouth. 

"Grow up, Naruto! Of course it does!" Sasuke yelled, blood dripping down his busted lip and he moved closer to Naruto.

"I can't control what my father does, Sasuke...what do you want me to do?!" Naruto countered as he grabbed hold of Sasuke's shirt and shoved him back, and away from him. Naruto's own bloody and swollen face mirrored Sasuke's. Naruto was panting and wiped the blood that was pouring from his mouth with the back of his hand. 

"What I want? I want you to leave me the fuck alone! I don't need to be friends with someone who takes after their pathetic father." 

Naruto smashed his fist back into Sasuke's face. Shortly after they became a tangled mess of limbs, and only stopped when two teachers grabbed hold of them and ripped them apart from each other.

Naruto and Sasuke were both panting and glaring at each other. Only their facial expressions differed. Sasuke's face was darkened with shadows, coldness, and anger. Whereas Naruto's looked dejected, hurt, and confused. Onyx eyes stared coldly into too blue eyes. The moon and the sun. After the teachers realized they weren't going to go after each other again they were both escorted away from each other.

No, this was the complete opposite of how Naruto wanted to start his summer vacation.


	7. Sic Transit Gloria

# Sic Transit Gloria

 

There was an emptiness inside of Naruto, something that had existed since birth. An emptiness that had been growing so gradually with each passing year it threatened to eventually consume him. Uzumaki Kushina had entered labor early, and the moment she first felt the labor pains the birth was anything but easy.

Kushina died at the age of twenty-four.

The cause of death was obstructed labor, uterine rupture, and hemorrhaging. Despite Kushina having contractions Naruto was unable to pass through the birth canal, causing the uterus to rupture, and forcing the doctors to perform an emergency cesarean section. The doctors were able to extract Naruto before he suffered long-term oxygen deprivation effects. However, in choosing to save Naruto the doctors were unable to save Kushina; and she died with her stomach cut open, organs exposed, and bleeding all over the operating table.

The irrefutable fact was Naruto had killed his mother.

The emptiness was there even when he was surrounded by his friends. A dull throbbing pain deep inside. Naruto's laughter and smile was just a facade. A perfect defense mechanism he wore like a mask. In hopes that if he pretended long enough it would turn into reality. Such wishful thinking. Such a child. The emptiness remained. 

Naruto was 15 years old, soon to be 16, and enrolled in Konoha's Preparatory Boarding School, and today he was getting a blowjob in the boy's locker room. 

Naruto was leaning against the bathroom stall door, pants around his ankles, and a boy who was a year older named Haku, was on his knees, and had Naruto's erect cock deep in his throat. The vibrations of the boy's throat against his organ sent shock waves of pleasure throughout his body. So much his vision blurred and his knees turned weak, threatening to collapse. 

The smiling, laughing, facade that worked when he was a child was no longer able to stop the impeding emptiness, and Naruto had to go about finding other ways to fill the emptiness within him.

"I'm...going...to cum...Mnh." Naruto gasped, which didn't seem to phase Haku as he continued sucking his cock. Naruto ejaculated into the boy's mouth. Haku swallowed.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto apologized as he grabbed his pants and pulled them up, buckling them, and tucking his white button-up shirt into his pants, straightening his tie, and adjusting the deep V-neck sweater of his school uniform.

Naruto watched as Haku began straightening out his own uniform. The older boy had long silky hair, and even longer eyelashes, and if Naruto didn't feel the other boy's cock for himself he would have mistaken Haku for a girl. Haku brought his warm chocolate eyes to Naruto and smiled.

There was a connection that Naruto immediately felt with Haku...this boy also wore a series of masks, smiled the same smile as Naruto, and experienced the same emptiness deep inside. It was a relationship of convenience. 

Haku was the first to leave, and five minutes later Naruto left the locker room. As soon as Naruto rounded the corner he ran into Shikamaru who was leaning up against the wall, outside the locker room, obviously waiting for the blonde.

 _Shit._ Naruto looked away and exhaled loudly, throwing his arms behind his head and walking down the corridor ignoring Shikamaru altogether.

"Cutting class again, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked as he pushed himself off the wall and followed alongside Naruto; sticking his hands into his pockets.

Naruto gave Shikamaru a sideways glance, "Are you here as a member of the student council, or on orders from the Hokage?" 

Shikamaru turned to meet Naruto's eyes and answered, "I'm here as your friend. I'm worried about you Naruto. It's only been a few weeks and you're already pulling this shit...here."

"...and what exactly are you worried about? I have a 3.5 GPA, I'm starting center on the soccer team, and I'm making sure I eat enough vegetables. So what I do for my extracurricular activities shouldn't be any of your concern." 

"I'm not stupid, Naruto." Shikamaru continued without skipping a beat. "If a teacher catches you getting a blowjob in the locker room you'll be suspended and probably removed from the soccer team."

Naruto flashed a smirk, "You say it like it's a bad thing." 

The smirk vanished when Shikamaru's face typically devoid of any emotion except petulance was twisted into worry and concern. Naruto felt guilt creeping up on him and his stomach knotted.

"Okay! Okay! Okay! I'll be more careful...just stop looking at me like that," Naruto spoke apprehensively as he pressed one hand against Shikamaru's face and pushed him away. Guilt had settled in his stomach. 

"When was the last time you spoke to your father?" Shikamaru asked and Naruto stopped walking abruptly. A flip switched within Naruto and annoyance took hold once more.

Naruto thought back to their last conversation. It was one of the rare occasions that Minato had come home and insisted on spending the night with Naruto. Only it was a facade in order to notify Naruto that he was being pulled out of public school, and enrolled into the Konoha Preparatory Boarding School. Naruto didn't want to leave his school, his friends, to go to some boarding school.

There were only a few classmates from middle school enrolled at the preparatory school, and it was only because their parents held prestigious jobs. Haruna Sakura's mother was the medical examiner. Yamanaka Ino's father worked as an Anbu member protecting the Yondaime. Nara Shikamaru's father was the adviser to the Yondaime.

"Is it because Sasuke's in this class that you continuously skip it?" Shikamaru asked, changing the topic to an equally dreadful one. Naruto paled. _Uhh..._

Bingo.

Naruto and Sasuke never properly amended their friendship after they fought in the schoolyard at the end of their 8th grade year. Naruto heard afterwards that Sasuke was going to be transferred to Konoha Preparatory Boarding School. During the summer break Sasuke avoided Naruto's phone calls, and even refused to come to the front door even when Naruto showed up at his house. Which made things very difficult to make up...and so they never did. Naruto tried all summer to mend their friendship, and Sasuke rebuked every attempt. Leaving Naruto angry and bitter. 

Naruto remained at the public school for another year until he was forced to transfer. Naruto didn't see Sasuke again until he walked into his English class on the first day of classes.

The city of Konoha was becoming too dangerous, and because Naruto was the son of the Yondaime he had to be protected. He was wrapped up, and sent off to boarding school. Like a fish in a bowl. His other classmates' parents had the same idea...but that was only because they could afford the tuition costs. Naruto was still forced to leave his other friends behind including Kiba, Lee, and Choji.

"Hn." Naruto exasperated. Shikamaru was too perceptive. It wasn't fair. Then again their last interaction ended in a fist fight with both of them being suspended for the remainder of the school year. It was all anyone could talk about given the circumstances. 

"I haven't seen him in over a year and suddenly the bastard is everywhere…" Naruto spoke bitterly. "Every time I see him I want to punch him in his goddamn shit-eating grin."

Shikamaru smiled.

"Hmm...Have you thought about therapy as an extracurricular activity?" Shikamaru asked and suddenly Naruto erupted into laughter; a full belly laugh. The sudden explosion of emotion relieved Shikamaru.

"You asshole." Naruto laughed.

*****

Sasuke heard the rumors even before classes began.

The Sunday before class Sasuke was laying on top his bed reading _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ the first assigned book in his English class. His roommate, Hozuki Suigetsu, entered their dormitory in Cypress Hall. Sasuke had been rooming with Suigetsu since he first transferred, and had gotten use to all the little oddities Suigetsu had a habit of doing.

Sasuke looked up from his book when he found Suigetsu standing at the foot of his bed staring down, and only speaking when Sasuke acknowledged him.

"I just heard the Hokage's son officially transferred today," Suigetsu explained pausing only to drink through a straw from the green tumbler in hand, "...apparently he wasn't too thrilled about having to transfer, from what I heard he was forced to transfer."

Sasuke suddenly felt aware of the presence of his tongue. It felt dry like sandpaper, and his throat felt itchy, and it was difficult to swallow. He hadn't seen Naruto in over a year, and it was as if the universe was playing a cruel trick on Sasuke forcing Naruto back into his life.

"He's probably an entitled asshole, he was placed in a single dorm. A transfer student and already getting special privileges just because he's the Hokage's son? Fuck that. I already hate him." Pause. Slurp. "Anyways Karin and Jugo want to meet us in the mess hall in thirty minutes."

"Hm." Sasuke answered and turned back to his book. He found it difficult to read. The words blurred and jumbled together on the pages. Naruto had transferred?

*****

It was the first day of classes.

Sasuke didn't see Naruto all morning, and was beginning to think that the universe was merciful and that maybe the blonde had an entirely different class schedule. That is until afternoon rolled around. Sasuke was seated in his desk pulling out his books for English when a familiar blonde hair, too blue eyed boy walked into the classroom.

Naruto was smiling and laughing, accompanied by three other students. Sasuke suddenly had a flashback of sitting underneath the oak tree in the yard of the elementary school and watched as all the children circled Naruto. It had been over a year since he last saw Naruto and he didn't look the same. Naruto had grown taller, leaner, and his body began to fill out. The baby-fat gone. His face more straight, jawline strong, and shoulders wide. Sasuke could tell even under the school uniform he had an athletic built.

Was Naruto was still playing soccer? The thought didn't cross Sasuke's mind that Naruto was probably still playing soccer, and he would see him irregardless at soccer practice.

Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and he looked up catching the familiar onyx eyes of none other than Uchiha Sasuke himself. Too blue eyes meeting onyx eyes. Naruto turned away, effectively ignoring Sasuke's existence all together, and turned his attention back to the gaggle of students around him.

Another familiar voice rang from behind Naruto, "SASUKE!" Naruto looked over his shoulder and watched Haruno Sakura stand with her mouth agape in the door frame. She was wearing black tights under her plaid skirt, but other than that wore the same button-up white t-shirt, v-neck long-sleeve sweater, and tie as the rest of them.

Naruto pretended to ignore his old classmates, and returned to talking about his excitement to begin soccer practice, but of course Sakura didn't realize, or if she did purposely thwarted his attempts.

"Naruto! We're in the same class as Sasuke! Doesn't this bring back memories!" Sakura thread her arm around Naruto's, intercepting him, and pulling him away from the gaggle of classmates. In a low voice she muttered, "Think of it as a way to make up with Sasuke!"

Sakura tightened her monstrous strength around Naruto just as he was about to pull away, only stopping when they were both in front of Sasuke's desk.

"Sasuke how have you been?" Sakura asked her voice overly sweet and syrupy, which only made the situation more awkward and forced. 

"I'm so glad we're all in the same class again. I tried looking for you when I moved into the dorms, but I didn't know what dorm you were in. I'm in Sycamore, and Naruto's in Cypress."

Sasuke stared hard up at Sakura before smirking, "You're still annoying as ever, Sakura." It was then when Naruto slammed both hands down on the top of Sasuke's desk, causing Sakura to jump and a small cry escaped her lips. 

"Listen here you bastard." 

Sasuke grinned his shit-eating grin. All eyes turned to see the scene, the room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Before Sasuke could respond the professor came in and clapped his hands together ordering everybody to take their seats immediately. He wrote, Hatake Kakashi, on the blackboard. He introduced himself as both the English professor and the coach for the school's soccer team. 

Naruto continued to glare at Sasuke another few seconds before tearing his eyes away to find an available desk. _Fuck._ The nearest desk was right next to Sasuke to the right. Apparently the students were too frightened to go near them and every other desk was taken. Sakura slid into the empty desk in front of Sasuke, and Naruto slid into the desk right beside him.

In all honesty Naruto didn't pay attention all class and only began paying attention when he heard key phrases: group project, presentation, 25% of your grade. Kakashi went around and began assigning the students randomly to groups of three, and assigned a theme from _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ they would be presenting on.

"Yes, you three." Kakashi decided pointing towards Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, "Your theme is Sexuality and Sexual Identity." Kakashi wrote down their names and their theme on his clipboard and moved on to the next group.

Sakura turned around in her seat as class was dismissed and asked, "When did you want to meet up?" Her words fell on deaf ears, as Naruto and Sasuke were already getting up to leave. They both avoided each other, and ignored her. 

"Naruto-" Sakura asked and the blonde spun around, shrugging his shoulders and responding, "I have to go. We'll talk later, Sakura. Bye."

*****

"Naruto...have you finished reading the book?" Sakura asked from across the library table, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was sitting uncomfortably. She was at edge of her chair. Naruto had just taken a seat, throwing his school bag on top of the table, his eyes avoiding Sasuke, and focused on Sakura. 

"Yeah...why wouldn't I?" Naruto untucked his shirt, and loosened his tie, collapsing into the chair. 

Sakura looked nervously at Sasuke and then back at Naruto, "Well...you haven't been coming to class, and we present next week."

Naruto flipped open his messenger bag and pulled out his copy of _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ , a notebook, and pen.

"I'm sorry. I had extracurricular activities I needed to do," Naruto spoke nonchalantly. He didn't want to get into the reason why he was skipping his English class and why he was avoiding meeting Sasuke and Sakura to work on their project. Especially, when the reason sat across from him. 

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow asking, "...and what extracurricular activities are you in? Preseason practice doesn't begin until next month."

Naruto slid his eyes from Sakura to Sasuke. Trailing his eyes from his torso, to his collarbones, to his neck to his jawline, to his lips, and finally his eyes. Sasuke had grown even more handsome than he was in middle school. Skin the color of cream, hair the color of raven's silky feathers. Naruto then pushed those thoughts from his mind.

Naruto put one arm on the table, and the other hand propped his head up as he smiled at Sasuke. Naruto was still angry. Still bitter. 

"Tell me Sasuke...how is your father doing? Hm?"

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled her face twisting into a scowl. Naruto pressed both his palms together in prayer and turned his head to the side, "Sorry! Sorry! It won't happen again. Sakura!"

"New rule implemented," Sakura instituted, "No outside talk...we only talk about the book and the assignment." She opened her own notebook where she made notes in perfectly sized lettering. She looked from Naruto to Sasuke leading the discussion.

"What I've gathered is both Basil, and Lord Henry express desire for Dorian, but Basil's love is seen as more pure. And I've also highlighted the mistreatment of women in the book..."

"Well yeah...out of the two genders Wilde says a man is most equip to love another man than a woman is to love a man." Naruto answered flipping through the novel until he came to a page that was clearly highlighted, and read of Basil's first meeting of Dorian:

"...Something seemed to tell me that I was on the verge of a terrible crisis in my life... I take no credit to myself for trying to escape... We were quite close, almost touching. Our eyes met again. It was reckless of me, but I asked Lady Brandon to introduce me to him. Perhaps it was not so reckless, after all. It was simply inevitable. We would have spoken to each other without any introduction. I am sure of that, Dorian told me so afterwards. He, too, felt that we were destined to know each other."

Naruto looked up at Sakura as he finished. She nodded her head in agreement, "Sybil's treatment by Dorian...Dorian cruelly breaks off their engagement, and as a result Sybil commits suicide...which could emphasis the preferred homosexuality to heterosexuality."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Focusing on Sakura made things bearable...but he couldn't stop his eyes from wondering to Sasuke. 

"Dorian enters a world of sin and pleasure...given the time that Wilde wrote this book, homosexuality was a sin," Sasuke spoke his eyes drifting to Naruto, and as if mirroring him Naruto moved his eyes and stared back. 

"I agree...the emphasis all correlates to Dorian being attracted to men...and in the end it tortures him and he kills himself," Naruto agreed.

Naruto trailed the outline of Sasuke's lips with his eyes. He brought his attention to Sasuke's eyes, to his eyelashes, and finally the Adam's apple. Naruto wondered if Sasuke's lips felt the same...if he still tasted the same. Naruto watched the Adam's apple bob as Sasuke swallowed.

"Only in death was Dorian able to return to his true form, whereas his portrait returned to the youthful portrait of him," Sasuke concluded. Those onyx eyes never leaving Naruto.

Naruto flipped to another page in the novel, another section highlighted, and read Basil's confession of love to Dorian, "It is quite true I have worshiped you with far more romance of feeling than a man should ever give to a friend. Somehow I have never loved a woman…. From the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me…. I adored you madly, extravagantly, absurdly. I was jealous of everyone to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you."

Sakura shrank back and kept quiet. Emerald eyes flicking between Sasuke and Naruto who carried the conversation without her input. It felt like she shouldn't be here, and she suddenly felt embarrassed as if she was watching something she shouldn't. Their conversation continued and they continued to stare at each other as if forgetting she was there. They talked as if they were the only ones in the library. 

"Yes...let's use those quotes during our presentation," Sakura finally spoke. The illusion was broken and both Naruto and Sasuke teared their eyes away from each other and both looked at Sakura.


	8. Callisto

# Callisto

 

"They're called the Akatsuki," Haku explained softly. 

Haku's chocolate brown eyes caste downwards at a pair of older men dressed in identical black cloaks with red clouds printed all over. It was a unique design and definitely stood out in a crowd. Naruto was standing besides Haku wearing an orange bomber jacket, hands in the coat pockets, watching the two men from the rooftop of the consignment shop.

"They are pushing Callisto on the streets," Haku explained his voice growing darker. "What's that?" Naruto asked, as he crouched down to get a better look, pressing his face between the bars that outlined the rooftop. 

"It's a drug...it's supposed to erase your pain, and make you feel nothing but pleasure," Haku answered. The wind picked up around them and Naruto shivered.

"Hm?" Naruto's interest perked up.

It was the first weekend in October and the days were getting shorter and colder. Naruto and Haku were in downtown Konoha. Haku was wearing tights, a forest green peacoat over a salmon pink dress, and around his neck a black choker. Haku commented he felt more comfortable in dresses than anything else and Naruto accepted that without question. ' _I'd wish the academy would let me wear the girl's school uniform,_ ' Haku exhaled, and Naruto nodded his head in agreement. It didn't make a difference to Naruto what Haku preferred, it was okay with him so long as Haku was happy. 

"So you just feel pleasure? No pain?" Naruto asked staring up at Haku, who had both hands gripping the railing that outlined the rooftop perimeter. "Hmm," Haku murmured shaking his head yes. 

"I just need something to help me concentrate...I can't afford to get behind in my school work. I just need something like adderall y'know," Naruto concluded as he straightened up, stretching both hands up towards the sky.

"Aren't you curious to try it?" Haku asked turning his attention to the blonde boy. 

' _No, I don't. I just want the adderall._ ' "Maybe a little...is it safe?" Naruto commented bringing his attention back down towards the men. 

"Want to try it?" Haku asked shifting his eyes to look at Naruto's. ' _No, just say no and shrug it off like it's no big deal. Just the adderall._ ' 

The blonde titled his head to the side in deep thought before bringing his fingers through his hair in a nervous gesture. 

"Sure...why not," a smile spreading his lips revealing his warm radiant smile. ' _Idiot, what are you saying?_ '

"Let's go." 

Haku turned around and began walking away. Naruto turned on the balls of his feet and began following two steps behind Haku, his hands moving back into his coat pockets. He was feeling giddy and alive.

*****

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he stared at the man in the red cloud print black cloak. But it wasn't Sasuke. ' _Stupid. Don't go calling out his name to every stranger that looks like him. _' Naruto immediately felt foolish for thinking otherwise.__

__Although the two carried similar features. The man before Naruto had very long thick eyelashes, almond shaped dark eyes, with equally long, dark, hair pulled back into a low ponytail. His complexion was milky white and blemish free, and his frame was slender. This man carried a presence about him that demanded respect as if to be held in high regard, and Naruto got the impression he was in the presence of royalty._ _

__"Does he know your brother, Itachi?" the other man, whose complexion looked like a drowning victim's, asked gruffly. "Maybe we shouldn't sell these little brats anything."_ _

__' _Wait...what?_ '. Naruto turned his attention to the other man. He was taller, wider, and had spiky blue hair. He looked like a fish and his skin had a queasy blue tint to it._ _

__"You're Sasuke's brother?" Naruto asked staring back at the dark-haired man. Naruto only heard Sasuke speak briefly about his elder brother a handful of times, but never in detail. Itachi was a ' _true genius_ ', entering high school at the age 10, and finishing his bachelor's degree at the age 18._ _

__Naruto immediately pushed that thought from his mind...that this Itachi was the same Itachi as Sasuke's brother._ _

__"How do you know Sasuke?" Itachi asked sharply stepping forward and narrowing his eyes at the blonde. ' _Fuck! It is the same person!_ ' Haku stepped forward bringing his arms up as if to show they didn't mean anything by it, to show they were weaponless, and completely at their mercy. _ _

__"We don't personally know him, just see him around campus, we both go to Konoha Preparatory School," Haku explained._ _

__' _Fuck. This is dangerous...we need to leave now!_ ' Naruto stared hard at Haku trying to convey these thoughts through facial expressions. But he felt Itachi's penetrating glare on him, forcing Naruto to face Itachi again. Naruto could feel that Itachi wasn't buying it, but he lessened the icy cold stare he was giving Naruto, and turned his attention towards Haku._ _

__"Do you think they're narc's?" the blue-haired man asked, and in one fluid movement he had slammed Naruto up against the brick wall of the alleyway, and in another movement pulled out a Walther P22 handgun and struck the barrel hard against Naruto's skull. ' _Fuck!_ '_ _

__"Think they're wired?" The blue-haired man asked as he began to pat Naruto down with his free hand, testing his hypothesis. The blonde was stunned, the feeling of having a gun pointed to his skull was slowly sinking in._ _

__It was then when Itachi spoke up, "No...they're just students. Kisame release him." Kisame released the blonde, and a momentarily false sense of safety washed over Naruto, before it vanished as Kisame pulled the blonde close once again._ _

__"Students are my favorite," Kisame purred into Naruto's ear, arms wrapped around Naruto's chest from behind. Kisame sniffed loudly at Naruto's hair and leaned in close to his face and sniffed again, "...and you smell of money...rich brat!"_ _

__Naruto swallowed and shot a glance at Haku. He was wearing his mask. Naruto wasn't able to read his real expression. The mask was tied securely around his face. Smiling. Pokerface. Haku was already pulling out a few twenty-dollar bills. Unfazed by the events that unfurled in front of him. Which gave Naruto some sick sense of relief._ _

__"We wanted to buy a few Callisto tabs, and some adderall...if you have it," Haku spoke with the ease of someone who had done this once or twice or three times before. Kisame looked to Itachi waiting for the executive decision and when Itachi nodded his head ' _yes._ ' _ _

__Kisame broke out into a salesman's grin, "Well then…!"_ _

____

*****

Naruto's heart was thumping so wildly in his chest it physically ached. Norepinephrine coursed through his veins. Naruto could still feel the barrel of the gun up against his skull. Could taste his tongue swelling and mouth becoming dry. Could physically feel the panic take hold. It was dangerous the whole fucking thing was dangerous.

' _What the fuck are you doing?_ ' Naruto screamed internally. ' _Get your fucking shit together you stupid brat!_ '

"Are you okay?" Haku asked tilting his head to the side and looking up at Naruto. ' _NO! I had a fucking gun to my head!_ ' Naruto thought as he glanced at Haku. 

The two were sitting side by side on the bus as it carried them back from downtown Konoha to campus. Naruto stared out the window trying to speak as nonchalantly as he could, "Of course!" Naruto leaned his head against the window and mumbled, "It wasn't like it was the first time I've seen a gun up close y'know."

Naruto stared out the window of the bus as the scenery outside blurred together and for a moment he saw it…a memory...as vividly as if it was happening in front of him right here, right now. The man who had his hands bound in back of him, a filthy cloth tied around his mouth. Naruto saw his crying face with the thick snot dripping down his nose, pleading for his life right in front of him. Saw the gun pull out. The trigger pulled not once, but twice. The bullet ripping through the skull, and exiting with a splatter of blood, and bone, and membrane in an explosion. 

"It's just scare tactics...they wouldn't have really done anything," Haku spoke folding his hands together in his lap. "Hmm." Naruto answered as he continued to stare out the window, back at the changing landscape. He could smell gun powder.

*****

' _Will you finally stop being reckless?_ ' Naruto thought again. ' _When will you be satisfied? Just take the adderall, nothing else!_ '

Naruto and Haku were walking side by side down the hallway of Cypress Hall and stopped outside of Naruto's dorm. Naruto unlocked the door and opened it to allow Haku entrance. Only when Naruto was closing the door did he lock eyes with Sasuke walking down the hallway. Naruto stopped, door still open. Sasuke pulled his eyes from Naruto and continued walking down the hallway. Ignoring him. 

' _So, it's going to be like that now...eh_ '

It was the first time Naruto saw Sasuke in the dormitory, and he stepped out into the hallway and called out after him, "Sasuke!" The raven-haired boy didn't stop walking, or even acknowledge that he actually saw or heard Naruto. Naruto didn't let it phase him, and he was soon running after Sasuke.

"Wait...Sasuke…" Naruto spoke desperately, and it was this desperation that caused Sasuke to stop in his tracks and turn to face Naruto. "Your brother…" Naruto began and Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "My brother?" Sasuke repeated in confusion his eyes searching Naruto's.

"I think I saw him in downtown Konoha...but…" Naruto began, and it was then when Naruto realized he didn't have a game plan. Didn't even know if the Itachi he met was the same Itachi as Sasuke's ' _true genius_ ' elder brother. Because...because... When Naruto thought about it...the two couldn't be the same person. The Itachi he met was in a gang, Akatsuki, and it was taken over parts of Konoha and pushing illegal drugs on the street...drugs that he had personally purchased.

In reality Naruto was incriminating himself.

No, in all honesty Naruto just wanted an excuse to speak to Sasuke. It was the first time in two weeks, and Naruto was grasping at straws. Wanting any excuse to speak to his old best friend. ' _Yeah but bringing up Itachi out of all things to talk about...you stupid idiot...just apologize and walk away._ ' And Sasuke was staring at him waiting for an explanation, and Naruto was hitting the internal panic button. 

"I'm sorry...I thought I met Itachi today, but now that I think about it...it couldn't have been him y'know?" Naruto laughed nervously throwing one arm behind his head in his usual nervous gesture. Sasuke didn't answer, looked him once from top to bottom, before leaving. Naruto reached out and grabbed Sasuke's wrist.

Naruto's fingers brushed against Sasuke's skin and it felt warm and soft, and he immediately retracted his hand. ' _What are you doing? Stop it!_ '

"Just out of curiosity...what… what is your brother doing now...exactly?" Naruto asked. 

Sasuke turned to glare at him. Clearly annoyed with the blonde's sudden outburst, and focus on his older brother. "What's it to you anyways?" Sasuke finally spoke irritably, but there was an undertone of curiosity as to why Naruto was even bringing up his brother now when he never did before.

"Maybe it was his doppelganger…" Naruto said with a smile. 

"He's with the Uchiha Police," Sasuke answered, and Naruto nodded his head up and down, "Ahhh. I see." Naruto clapped his hands together nervously, "Sorry-Sorry! I didn't mean to bother you y'know...see ya." Naruto then pivoted and returned to his room.

Naruto couldn't expand the conversation any longer and admitted defeat. ' _I just wanted to talk with you...you stupid bastard._ '

*****

Returning to his room Naruto popped a few adderall capsules. 

Haku held out a few sheets of what looked like yellow smiley faces. Naruto blinked and tilted his head to the side. Thinking...it wouldn't really hurt to try it just once. Haku instructed Naruto to open his mouth and lift his tongue. He complied. Haku placed the two Callisto tabs under his tongue and Naruto closed his mouth. The taste was bitter. Like baker's chocolate. 

Naruto felt it absorbing into his bloodstream, and within ten minutes he felt it. His eyes dilated so much it eclipsed the blueness of his eyes. A wave of pleasure washed over him...and then...

"Tell me...do you feel good yet?" Haku whispered in Naruto's ear as his hand moved to Naruto's crotch.

*****

"Mhm."

Naruto was straddling Haku who was pinned underneath him. Naruto was holding both of Haku's wrists high above his head so that they banged against the headboard of the bed. Naruto's lips were kissing and sucking Haku's neck and the boy was moaning softly. Haku's face turned a flushed pink and his eyes were squeezed shut.

This was the only time the expression on Haku's face changed.

Naruto began to think of Sasuke...thinking what kind of expression Sasuke would make if he had pinned him beneath him, held his wrists, and kissed his neck. Naruto began to imagine it. Staring at Haku underneath him and morphing Haku's face to Sasuke's.

There was a knock on the door and Naruto straightened up, but still gripped Haku's wrists tightly. Naruto didn't say anything and hoped whoever it was would quickly move on. ' _There's nobody here...please leave._ ' 

There was another knock on the door. This time louder and longer. Impatient. 

"Naruto." Sasuke called out, and Naruto's head jerked towards the door. Naruto was sitting on top of Haku now and could feel the boy beneath him. Hard and erect. 

"Open up. We need to talk." Naruto glanced down at Haku, it wasn't Sasuke beneath him. Naruto slid off Haku. The blonde sauntered to the door, opening it up a crack and peering through. The world didn't feel real. It felt fake. Like he was hallucinating. 

Sasuke moved and stared at Naruto through the crack. 

"Why did you bring him up? Why did you ask me about Itachi?" Sasuke demanded. Sasuke looked flustered.

"What? Oh...it was nothing...I just thought I saw him," Naruto spoke through the crack in the door; maneuvering his body so that Sasuke wouldn't see Haku sprawled out on his bed.

"How did you know? You never saw him before!" Sasuke accused. Naruto clearly seeing how upset Sasuke was opened the door up wider and moved part of his body through the opening. 

"Look...It was a mistake...I thought I saw him when I went to the consignment shop downtown…" Naruto explained. Naruto didn't feel real. His body didn't feel real. Holding a conversation was difficult and Naruto wanted to close the door and end it. He wasn't in his right mind. Callisto coursed through his blood stream, and highlighted different parts of his brain. 

"Well, what was he doing?" Sasuked asked. 

"What? What was 'who' doing?" 

"What did you think 'Itachi' was doing?"

"Nothing...because it wasn't him, you said Itachi was in the Uchiha Police Force...and the guy I saw...was kinda doing the opposite," Naruto spoke quickly his eyes shifting around. Naruto felt his body tremble.

"Are you sure?" Sasuke questioned further. 

"Uhh…yeah?" Naruto answered with less and less confidence. A sinking feeling was forming in Naruto's stomach. He was going to say something wrong again if he didn't shut up. Naruto knew he should close the door, but he didn't want the conversation to end. His brain was foggy and it felt as if he was walking through London town in the early hours. 

"Well this person who looked like Itachi...what was he doing that was the opposite of a police officer?" Sasuke continued.

Naruto stared Sasuke up and down, swallowing he spoke as calmly as he could. Mustering his strength to sound and look sober. 

"Listen...I don't understand where this is coming from, but the man I saw was one-hundred percent not Itachi...he probably just reminded me of you because I…" Naruto's eyes shifted to the left of Sasuke, "...just reminded me of you was all." It was better to lie to Sasuke then tell him the truth. Naruto didn't want to upset him anymore. Naruto also didn't want to tell Sasuke that he was seeing Sasuke's face in strangers whenever he wasn't around him. 

' _Fuck! I'm pathetic. What am I doing?_ '

Naruto shifted his eyes to the right of Sasuke before bringing them up to meet Sasuke's onyx eyes speaking quietly, "Goodnight, Sasuke." Naruto rescinded his body back into his room and shut the door, locking it as he did so. He felt better. He felt the Callisto take peak effects. It was as if he was gliding across the floor. There was music playing in the background. Music that only Naruto could hear. 

"Sorry," Naruto apologized as kissed Haku hard on the lips.

*****

"Oh...if it isn't the student council," Naruto said as he looked up at Shikamaru who appeared in front of him. Shikamaru had his hands in his pockets, and a look of petulance on his features. 

Shikamaru exhaled loudly, "You do know I'm not part of the student council right, Naruto? I have enough trouble keeping you out of trouble." 

Naruto was eating a sweet roll filled with red bean paste for lunch. Naruto had his back pressed up against the brick wall of the school building, and sat cross-legged on the grass. He wasn't exactly hungry. Naruto couldn't remember the last time he was hungry, but he knew he had to eat something. 

Naruto smiled wide, "Yeah...but you getting upset every time I call you that makes me want to do it more, y'know. 'Sides you were in middle school. It suites you!" Naruto crammed the last part of the bread into his mouth and watched Shikamaru as he sat down besides him.

"Your birthday is a few days away...and Kiba wants to throw you a party," Shikamaru explained. Naruto shifted his eyes to the side he knew where this conversation was headed, and he didn't want any part of it. 

"...he also said you've been ignoring him...so what's up?"

"I'm not ignoring him I've just been busy," Naruto concluded with a shrug of his shoulders. 

"You've been ignoring all of us...it's lunch time and you're eating by yourself," Shikamaru concluded and he used his hands to gesture that Naruto was literally eating lunch alone behind the canteen. Naruto looked sheepish and couldn't offer an explanation. As it was true. He was avoiding everyone. He was coming down from a cocktail of adderall and Callisto. 

Naruto slapped his hands together and bowed his head, "Sorry! Sorry!"

"You're one of my best friends Naruto if there is something bothering you...you can tell me," Shikamaru said. There was a lot bothering Naruto, but he just continued to swallow it back, and shove everything into a box to the left.

"Thanks, Shikamaru!" Naruto spoke with a smile, before changing the topic, "Now...when is this party planned for? Ya'll doing a shitty job if it's supposed to be a surprise party."

*****

Naruto was tripping in the bathroom. Naruto spent his sixteenth birthday hallucinating in the bathroom, while his friends celebrated in Kiba's living room. 

Was it more than an attraction or a physical lust? None of this was really happening...it all happened inside Naruto's sick imagination. 

They were conjoined at the tongue. Naruto's body melting into Sasuke's as he brought his fingers up and combed them through the silky black strands of Sasuke's hair. The first inconceivable touch. Sasuke tasted exactly as Naruto remembered, and his tongue slid against Sasuke's in a familiar rhythm as if to the beat of a song only they could hear. Naruto's body pressed up against Sasuke's, and he was pressing the other boy's spine up against the locked bathroom door.

It was then when Sasuke's hand pressed up against the blondes face, and he shoved him away, breaking the kiss instantly. "What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto was panting and smiled cooly, "...a bit too late to stop, 'doncha think?" Naruto moved back towards Sasuke his fingers pressing hard against the fabric of Sasuke's crouch, and up against his erect cock.

"You-" Sasuke began but Naruto was pressing his mouth to Sasuke's once again as his hand began to massage over the fabric of Sasuke's pants. Sasuke moaned against Naruto's mouth and it sent him wild. Sasuke didn't push Naruto away, and allowed Naruto to continue to kiss him, touch him, as he brought up his hands around Naruto's waist. Sasuke's fingers moving underneath his shirt and up against his hip bones, his nails digging into Naruto's flesh.

Naruto's deft hands began to unbutton and unzip Sasuke's pants, and a hand slipped beneath his boxers until fingers wrapped around Sasuke's organ.

"Mnh!" Sasuke panted as Naruto began to move his grip up and down the base of Sasuke's penis. Naruto began to kiss Sasuke forcibly, as he tightened his grip and began moving his hand faster and faster up and down.

"You're sensitive, Sasuke," Naruto spoke as the white semen gushed from the tip and covered Naruto's hand. "Only...after a few seconds…"

"It could have been anyone," Sasuke spoke and Naruto shrugged as he pushed himself away from Sasuke. "Yeah...but it wasn't...it was me." Naruto brought his hand up watching as the white semen slide down his fingers.

There was a loud banging noise from outside the bathroom door followed by Kiba's voice filtering through the air, "Naruto! Get back out here there is a line forming, and some of us really have to piss! What are you doing? Shitting?"

Naruto blinked and he came to his senses. The Callisto was leaving his body. Naruto looked down, he was on his hands and knees. His right hand was wrapped around his penis and he had ejaculated all over the floor. Naruto zipped up his pants, pulled the hand towel down and wiped up his white cum, before he splashed water against his face. 

' _This is so fucked up._ '


	9. White Rabbit

# White Rabbit

 

Time moved back to the beginning of Naruto's sixteenth birthday. It occurred on a Friday that year, and Naruto and Haku were together in Naruto's dormitory. 

"You're not coming to my birthday party?" Naruto asked dejectedly. Haku was sitting on the edge of Naruto's bed.

"I hate crowds...besides I already have plans tonight," Haku answered as he pulled from his pocket what looked like a circular decorative pill box. "Want a party favor before you go?"

"What're your plans?" Naruto asked as he pulled on his orange bomber jacket. 

"I have business in downtown Konoha," Haku answered as he clicked the pill box open to reveal tiny square papers with yellow smiley faces on it. Naruto walked towards Haku, dragging his desk chair with him, spun the chair around, and straddled it so that the back of the chair was pressed against his abdomen.

Naruto opened his mouth. Haku placed a smiley face sheet under his tongue, before putting an identical one under his own tongue. It felt bitter. The sheet began to dissolve under his tongue. It was a taste he was growing accustomed to. 

"Want me to go with you?" Naruto asked. Haku smiled his unreadable smile. 

"I don't want you to go with me, you'll just be in my way." 

Naruto wrapped both hands around the back of the chair and smiled wide, "You're surprisingly cruel, y'know!"

Haku clicked the pill box closed and placed it back into his pocket.

*****

Naruto felt the effects of Callisto when he stepped into Kiba's house. There was a feeling of weightlessness and euphoria. All anxieties, and worries, and fears filtered from his body and evaporated into the atmosphere. Every sensation was amplified. The music that was blasting through the speakers caused every molecule in his body to vibrate. He found himself laughing. A full-belly laugh that was contagious to those around him.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NARUTO!" A voice sang out as an arm was being wrapped around his neck, and somebody was pulling him into a hug. Naruto hugged them back. The sensation washed over him.

Everybody's faces and bodies were blurred, and moved around rapidly. Somebody slid a red solo cup of unknown liquid into his hand and he brought the rim of the cup to his lips. It was alcoholic and bitter, but he drank it anyways. Every last drop. Letting go of the cup, which fell to the floor and rolled. Naruto began swaying his body back and forth to the beat of the music.

"He's been acting weirdly...I'm worried," Sakura spoke to Sasuke who was leaning up against the wall. 

"He looks fine...he's laughing and dancing with that stupid grin on his face. What's weird about that? That's just Naruto...being Naruto." Sasuke grumbled rolling his eyes as he watched Naruto laugh and dance. Sakura had a worried expression on her face as she continued to study Naruto. There was something wrong...but she couldn't put her finger on it. Just when she thought it was on the tip of her tongue it vanished. 

"Did you lie to make me come here?" Sasuke asked. He pulled out his cell phone looking at their text message conversation. 

"SOS. Something is wrong with Naruto. Please come quick!" Sasuke read and he stared deadpan at Sakura.

Sakura winked and stuck out her tongue, "I'm sorry, Sasuke!" Sakura turned her attention back to the blonde boy who was now in conversation with Lee and Choji, "It's Naruto's birthday...haven't you two made up yet? Naruto can't control what his father does...just like you can't control what-"

"Stop." Sasuke spoke coldly his grip tightening around the red solo cup. "Don't speak about my family." Sasuke turned his attention back to Naruto and watched him for a moment before kicking off the wall, "There's nothing wrong with him...I'm leaving."

"I missed you Sasuke...and I bet Naruto misses you even more...just stay a bit longer, please." Sakura begged giving him a look of desperation.

*****

"Oh…shit..." Naruto said, eyes widening, as he walked up to the bus stop. Meeting Sasuke's gaze. Sasuke was waiting underneath the bus sign. The air between them became strained and awkwardness set in. Sasuke was wearing a hooded black coat, unzipped to reveal a deep v-neck navy blue long sleeved shirt. Naruto's eyes caught sight of his collarbones and he shifted them away.

Perverted thoughts filtered through Naruto's mind once again.

"You're ditching your own party?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto shrugged, leaning up against the glass vestibule. 

"Guilty." Naruto ran a hand nervously through his blonde hair. "Actually...I wasn't expecting to run into anybody here...should have figured you'd be the first to leave. Heh." Naruto recalled seeing Sasuke at the party, and instead of talking to him, locked himself in the bathroom and masturbated. The Callisto was out of his system and he felt guilt ridden and empty. So much he couldn't fully face Sasuke for fear he could read what Naruto was thinking about. 

Sasuke moved his body so that he was fully facing Naruto. They were the only two at the bus stop. 

"You're making it difficult for me to avoid you...it doesn't mean I want to be friends...but Happy Birthday," Sasuke spoke raising his eyebrows in disbelief. 

Naruto let out a small laugh, "You'll have plenty of time to avoid me...you've gotten really good at it, y'know. And uh...who says I want to be your friend? Happy sweet sixteen to me." Naruto flashed the peace sign, and gave a sarcastic smile. 

"Yeah…" Sasuke said his voice lowering. 

The two waited in silence. Naruto's eyes closed momentarily. Sasuke stole a glance at him. Naruto looked exhausted and Sasuke could sense the light within him was dimming. It was something Sasuke felt when they were working together on their English assignment. Naruto's smile was a caricature. The warmth now felt lukewarm. This was that Sakura meant when she said Naruto was acting weirdly. It began weighing on Sasuke every time he saw the blonde, and it was this reason that prompted Sasuke to come to his birthday party. 

"The last time we were at the bus top together this late at night was when…" Sasuke broke the silence and Naruto's eyes opened with the memory. Anger and bitterness surged through Naruto. 

"Yeah...I know. I also remember when you came all the way to my house and convinced me to return to school...and I also remember when we fought in the school yard and you didn't talk to me for over a goddamn year! Funny how things turn out. Yeah?"

Sasuke stood there speechless.

The bus had pulled up and opened its doors. Naruto was the first to get on. Sasuke exhaled loudly and climbed onto the bus his eyes searching to find Naruto had taken a seat near the back. Sasuke chose to take a seat near the front of the bus. The doors closed and the bus jutted forwards.

*****

Back on campus Naruto trudged behind Sasuke as the two made their way back to Cypress Hall. He stopped moving as soon as Sasuke entered the building. Naruto remained standing outside his eyes shifting up towards the sky. Watching the inky blackness with specks of light piercing through the darkness of the night sky. Everything was so suffocating and it was difficult for Naruto to even breathe. Naruto felt empty and felt the weight of the world crashing down on him. He hated himself for snapping at Sasuke. Naruto only wanted them to return to being friends...and he went and fucked it up again. 

Naruto waited a few more minutes, breathing in the night air, before exhaling loudly and entering the building.

Once in his room Naruto locked the door, pressed his back up against the door, and slid down. He pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapped his arms around his legs, and began to cry. The Callisto left him feeling awful. As if every negative emotion, every painful experience, every wrong in his life was amplified times ten. The only other release Naruto had was to cry.

*****

It was 8:00AM the next day. Naruto had dragged himself out to the soccer field and joined the rest of the soccer team. Preseason practice began today. Naruto was wearing an orange hoodie, and a pair of jogger pants. It was a brisk forty-seven degrees Fahrenheit and foggy. The thick fog covered the field and made visibility almost impossible.

Naruto glanced around at his new teammates it was the first time he was formally meeting them. When Naruto and Sasuke locked eyes he turned away quickly.

"Are you any good...or did you just get on the team because you're the Hokage's brat?" A voice called out to Naruto, and he turned to stare sleepily at the voice. Naruto's eyelids barely opened. It was much too early for him, and he was still coming down from the Callisto. The boy was a few inches taller than Naruto and had platinum blonde hair on top and underneath dyed an electric blue.

"Naruto...you decided to join," came a familiar voice, and Naruto turned to see Hyuga Neiji standing with one hand resting on his hip. 

"Neji…does that mean Hinata transferred too?" Naruto asked. Hinata remained painfully shy throughout school and so she was often overlooked. 

"Hm," Neji answered with a firm nod. Naruto felt relief seeing a familiar face on the team, and gave Neji a reassuring smile. 

"HEY! Don't ignore me!" The loud boy yelled and Naruto glanced back at him. The fog was beginning to lift, becoming thinner, and pulling apart.

"Suigetsu," a voice came from behind the other boy. A very tall, and a very formidable boy appeared. Well over 6 foot 5 inches. He had spiked thick orangish-red hair that went in different directions across his head, and equally orangish-red slanted eyes. Despite his appearance his voice was soft and stern, "...apologize he is our teammate."

"Jugo! This brat probably doesn't even have any talent, only on the team just because he's the Hokage's brat!" Suigetsu complained loudly and he picked up a soccer ball and threw it hard towards Naruto's abdomen. Naruto caught it with an "Oof." 

Suigetsu narrowed his violet eyes and his eyebrows furrowed together. He accused, "Stupid you're not supposed to touch the ball with your hands. See! He has zero talent. Get off the field! You don't even know the basic rules!"

Naruto laughed and quickly dropped the ball holding both hands out. "I'm sorry! I was just surprised was all!"

"What do you think, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked as he turned around and looked down at the dark-haired boy who was sitting on the field.

"If you have your doubts why don't you play against him." Sasuke answered. He yawned and stretched his arms. Suigetsu nodded his head approvingly. 

"That's a good idea...Jugo let's team up and see if this brat is any good," Suigetsu spoke his voice filling with energy. He gripped one hand into a fist and concluded, "Let's crush him!"

"Wait...what?" Naruto asked as he turned to look at Suigetsu and Jugo. 

"Two against two lets go!" Suigetsu demanded. Naruto looked around at his new teammates and his eyes fell to Neji, and Naruto gave him a warm encouraging smile conveying, ' _Team up with me?_ '

Neji quickly held up his hand, "I'm sorry Naruto I'm still healing from a sprained ankle. I cannot help you." Naruto's eyes immediately went to Neji's feet and somehow found that doubtful. Neji just didn't want to get involved in things that didn't outright concern him. So much for a familiar face on the soccer team. Naruto sighed and scratched the back of his head. Nobody volunteered and Naruto shrugged as he began to stretch his legs. There was no where to go but up. 

"Alright...alright I accept. It can be two against one. It's good that you two have a handicap anyways. I'm pretty good ya know."

"You're cocky too? I can't wait to smash that smile off your goddamn face," Suigetsu yelled.

The rest of the team cleared the field and lined up at the sidelines. Naruto, Suigetsu and Jugo were all in the center circle. Naruto on one side of the halfway line, and Suigetsu and Jugo on the other side. Neji had thrown the ball into the center circle and the match began.

Naruto was the first to take the offense. He had no choice really, and he reached the ball first, kicking it out of reach from both Suigetsu and Jugo, before side stepping, spinning around both his opponents, and running full throttle back towards the ball. Naruto was quick and nimble. 

Naruto reached the ball again and began dribbling it down the pitch before kicking the soccer ball with the front of his cleats. The ball making perfect contact with the laces of his shoes, and Naruto followed the trajectory of the ball with his leg aiming towards the netting of the goal. The execution was perfect. The feeling was exhilarating. Naruto suddenly felt wide awake, his heart rate quickened, and pumped blood throughout his body feeding his organs with fresh oxygen.

It came naturally.

Something hard collided into Naruto and he was forced forwards and his body slammed down and connected painfully with the ground. The ball sailed unabashed through the air before it struck the netting of the goal.

Naruto rolled over, and onto his back to see Suigetsu standing above him. Naruto breathed heavily. 

Suigetsu reached his hand out. Just as Naruto extended his own Suigetsu rescinded the gesture, "...just because you may have a little talent doesn't mean you're part of the team. Just remember half the team hates you, and the other half is indifferent. So don't fuck things up for us. We want to go to the championship next year. Got it?"

Naruto pulled himself up, arms extended behind him as they supported his weight and smiled up at Suigetsu, "Got it, boss."

It was then when Coach Kakashi appeared and began walking towards Naruto and Suigetsu. "Yo." He greeted with a wave of his hand.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Suigetsu yelled in unison.

*****

"Just so we're clear you'll always be one of the last ones to shower, got it! So you better get used to taking cold showers, brat!" Suigetsu snarled once they walked into the locker room. Naruto had a layer of cold sweat on him, he was out of breath and panting, the last of his strength went to nodding his head up and down, "Yeah. Yeah. I got it boss."

Naruto brought two fingers to his forehead and saluted Suigetsu before he sat down on the bench in front of his locker. Naruto pulled out his cellphone and waited until it was his turn. Naruto stripped of his clothes and pulled a towel around his waist, grabbed his shower caddy, and moved towards the showers.

Naruto stopped and stared in front of him. Sasuke had exited the showers, dripping wet, wearing just a towel. Naruto's eyes trailed up Sasuke's legs, to the towel, to the V of his abdomen, the muscles over his stomach, trailing his eyes to his chest, to his collarbones, up his neck, resting momentarily on his lips, and finally catching Sasuke's eyes. 

Sasuke raised his eyebrows and a small smile spread Naruto's lips. Without a word Naruto moved passed Sasuke and entered the empty shower.

The cold water that poured through the shower head was enough to calm his boiling blood and prevent the impending boner he was erecting.

' _Fuck...get it together, Naruto._ '


	10. Secret

# Secret

 

Sasuke was seated at a desk on the second floor of the library, textbooks opened up, flashcards piled in an orderly manner, and notebooks composed of his own self-made study guides sprawled out neatly before him. Everything organized and orderly for optimal studying.

Sasuke twirled a pen around in his fingers. He was studying for midterms. He was studying, but his mind kept wandering...

Sasuke thought to Naruto during their preseason soccer practice. It was as if they had reverted back to their old selves. Sasuke watched Naruto with the same determination as when they were both in middle school, and their teamwork was effortless on the field. It was as if no time had passed between them. They both continued to read the other's actions, movements, and easily worked off each other's weaknesses with their own strengths. Kakashi praised both Sasuke and Naruto insinuating they had a good chance of winning the championship if they continued to work as a team. 

When they left the field they reverted back to their current selves. He thought about Naruto's current self. 

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. It wasn't like he was worrying about the blonde per se. Just curious as to why Naruto was acting so out of sorts whenever he was off the soccer field. Studying was pointless now. Sasuke couldn't concentrate. Ugh! Sasuke began packing his stuff up into his messenger bag.

Stepping outside a strong chill went through his body, cold wind picked up around him, causing him to zip up his coat. Something caught Sasuke's attention. It was Naruto, he held his cell phone to his ear and was speaking in a hushed tone. The blonde looked around suspiciously before speaking back into the receiver. The conversation abruptly ended, and Naruto pulled his phone away from his ear and stuffed both hands into his coat pocket. Naruto looked irritated and annoyed. 

Sasuke's feet began trailing behind Naruto and soon he was following him all the way to the bus stop. He was curious. Just wanted to know a little more about why he was acting all out of sorts. Nothing else but to satisfy his own curiosity.

Naruto entered the front of the bus, passed his student ID through the ticket machine, and slid into an open seat near the front. Sasuke entered the side of the bus, passed his own student ID through the ticket machine, and moved into an empty seat near the back.

' _What am I even doing?_ ' Sasuke thought as he stared at the back of Naruto's head and he sunk lower in his seat.

*****

The inside of Naruto's mind was filled with static as if somebody turned the radio to FM and nothing but white static noise emitted from the speakers. He felt clammy and fatigued and every joint in his body ached. Naruto stared absentmindedly out the window. ' _You don't have to go through with it...just remain at the bus stop until a return bus comes._ ' Naruto thought as the bus drove closer and closer to downtown Konoha. Coming down from Callisto was the worse feeling he had ever experienced. He just wanted the pain to go away.

' _I don't want to feel this way anymore._ ' Another voice emerged a much stronger voice. ' _I just need to get through midterms...and then I'll stop. Take a break. Quit easy-peasy!_ ' Naruto convinced himself as the bus stopped and he was the first to jump off. Yeah, it was a simple plan. A little here and a little there. Just to get through midterms, and then he'll quit. Cold turkey. It was all so simple. 

Naruto moved down the streets, following the same path he took with Haku, towards the consignment shop. ' _You got this. You got this. COME ON!_ ' Naruto thought as he pumped himself up.

*****

"Ah...if it isn't the rich prep school brat," Kisame spoke with raised eyebrows. "Let me guess...daddy gave you your allowance today?" 

The confidence deflated instantly leaving Naruto feeling like a popped balloon. 

Naruto laughed nervously and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. This blue-haired man was dangerous, and he was alone. Itachi nowhere in sight, but Naruto kept thinking back to what Haku said. It was just scare tactics. He wouldn't really do anything. Right? ' _It's all about the way you present yourself. Calm down you stupid brat. Confidence!_ '

Kisame turned his eyes to look behind Naruto and realizing he was alone a cold smile spread his lips, "You're alone today?" Funny, Naruto thought the same thing about Kisame. Although Kisame was reveling in the fact, it only made Naruto jumpy, and not at all confident. In fact it made Naruto feel like he had made a big mistake. 

"Something like that…" Naruto spoke hesitantly. Kisame lead Naruto to the back of the alleyway. So they could do the transaction alone.

"Naruto!" A familiarly stern voice shouted just as Naruto handed Kisame a bundle of tens and twenty dollar bills. Naruto shifted his eyes to see Sasuke. What? No...it couldn't be Sasuke...maybe just another one of those hallucinations Naruto had been having. Vivid hallucinations that felt real, but really it wasn't. Just the effects the drugs had on the chemistry of his brain.

"Naruto!" The voice repeated. Fuck it was Sasuke. He wasn't hallucinating. This was real life!

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! 

Sasuke was about to walk into a landmine field. He was going to ruin everything. Naruto turned to see Sasuke walking towards them and Naruto shouted, "You idiot! Stay back!" It was too late. Kisame was startled and he grabbed hold of Naruto, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him towards his chest, while the other arm reached for his handgun.

"You setting me up kid??" Kisame barked as he pressed the barrel of the gun to Naruto's skull. "I knew you were a fucking narc!" Sasuke stopped moving as his brain registered what was happening in front of him. Sasuke's mouth fell open as he witnessed the man holding a gun to Naruto's head. The world was spinning around him, and he was cemented in the epicenter. 

"No I'm not! I didn't know I was being followed," Naruto blurted out as his hands went up to Kisame's arm that was wrapped around his neck. "'Sides…'Sides...this is Uchiha Sasuke!" Naruto continued to blurt out, trying to say anything for him to lower the gun. Kisame seemed to mull over those words very carefully.

"You're full of surprises...prep school brat," Kisame spoke as he began to lower the gun slowly. "I'll tell you what...I'll tell you what...as a favor I'll let you go, but next time...next time you'll have to do a favor for me. Got it?" Kisame spoke into Naruto's ear. He gave Naruto a squeeze. 

"Yeah….sure…" Naruto mumbled his eyes shifting to the side. Kisame released the blonde and Naruto quickly jumped back. Backing away from the man. Kisame tossed Naruto a baggie before turning to leave. It was over. Naruto sighed in relief holding the baggie tightly in his hand.

"What the fuck was that Naruto?" Sasuke yelled as he punched Naruto in the face. Naruto's head ricocheted to the side. Pain erupted from where his jaw bone connected to his cheekbone.

"What was that for?" Naruto yelled as he brought one hand to his cheek. 

"I was kinda hoping it would knock some sense into you, usuratonkachi." Sasuke reached for the bag in his hand but Naruto quickly pulled away jumping back a few feet. "What the fuck are you doing, Naruto?" Sasuke yelled angrily. 

"What's it to you anyways?" Naruto spoke sharply as he began massaging his cheek, and moved the other behind his back. "It doesn't concern you...it isn't like we're friends anymore...you made that very clear. So why are you even here?"

Sasuke was speechless. Naruto had a point. Fuck. Sasuke sensed it. The light inside Naruto was nothing but embers burning. Naruto's flesh was pale and clammy. There were dark circles under his eyes, evidence of sleep deprivation, and his hair looked oily and unkempt as if he hadn't showered in a few days. Naruto looked like the shell of his former self and it gnawed on Sasuke's insides. Something he couldn't just sit on the sidelines and watch pass any longer. 

"It does concern me when we're teammates!" Sasuke recovered. 

"Teammates...that's what we are, huh?" Naruto countered. "'Sides it not what you think...I just need to get through the midterms, and then I'll stop."

"You don't need that...just study on your own! You're taking the easy way out, and that isn't you! Rely on your own strength you coward," Sasuke accused as he walked over to Naruto, causing the blonde to back up until his back pressed up against the brick wall. Sasuke shoved Naruto forward, and grabbed hold of his wrist, stretching Naruto's arm out in front of him. Naruto only tightened his grip around the baggie. 

"Give it to me, Naruto. Now!"

Naruto hesitated his eyes shifting from the left to the right. Naruto was thinking what the best course of action was. Sasuke tightened his hold on Naruto's wrist ready to break his wrist if he had to. Naruto winced, every conclusion was the same. He wasn't going to be able to walk away with the baggie in his possession. It wasn't fair. Sasuke ruined everything. Naruto swallowed and slowly opened up his palm. Sasuke immediately grabbed hold of the bag and took it away.

It was fine...Naruto told himself. He'd just meet up with Haku later. Naruto cursed at himself. No...he wasn't fine! He should have known he couldn't do anything properly by himself. Yes, Naruto thought. No...he was fine. He'd just meet up with Haku later and everything with be okay. Everything will be fine. It felt like he was growing mad. 

"Did you want me to help you study?" Sasuke asked as he looked at Naruto's panic-stricken face. "What?" Naruto asked his face twisting into confusion. Sasuke realized he didn't want to phrase it as a question and didn't want to give the blonde a choice. "Come on...I'll help you study."

Naruto stared up at Sasuke his eyes searching for some ulterior motive...maybe making it so Naruto couldn't go see Haku so easily? No..no...no...he was just being paranoid. Heh. Naruto combed his fingers through his hair. He needed fucking caffeine.

"Fine...but let's get some coffee first," Naruto spoke as he smiled. 

"Deal. Let's go usuratonkachi."

"Whatever you say, bastard."

*****

"S'ske...I can't do it anymore! Mercy...mercy!" Naruto moaned as he shoved the textbooks and notebooks away before rubbing his face with both hands. They had been studying for close to three hours and Naruto could no longer focus on the text. It blurred and jumbled together in an incomprehensible mess.

Sasuke leaned back in the chair and sighed, "Fine. You can take a break."

Naruto reached for his togo cup of coffee. When he picked it up he realized it was already empty. He placed the cup back down on the table with disappointed sigh. Naruto brought his eyes up and looked at Sasuke's face. The dark-haired boy was going over flashcards quietly, his eyes moving as he followed the print on the front of the card, pausing, before turning around to verify he got the correct answer from the back of the card. Naruto felt warmness inside, and a genuine smile spread his lips. Sasuke glanced up catching the blonde staring at him. Sasuke felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"Why are you staring at me like that? Stop it!" Sasuke spoke flustered. It was that smile...the warmness and light returned to Naruto's features. His blue eyes sparkled all clear and bright like a summer's day. 

"Thank you, Sasuke." Naruto said his voice soft and gentle. 

"Hn."

For a moment it felt just like old times as if no time passed between them. Naruto savored in the moment a little while longer. "I'm going to get another coffee...do you want anything?" Naruto spoke as he stood up from the library table. "Tea..." Sasuke answered. "Okay, I'll be right back." Naruto spoke as he brushed his finger tips across the library table as he left. Sasuke watched his finger tips moving before he vanished entirely.

*****

Naruto felt physically ill. He was sweating profusely, he felt nauseous, and everything ached. It was almost as if he was having flu-like symptoms. He went to the bathroom, and dry heaved over the toilet. Only saliva and coffee came out. Naruto couldn't remember if he ate today or not. Naruto splashed water onto his face before patting it dry with a paper towel. Catching his breath and calming himself down. Naruto pulled out his phone and began to text Haku. 

' _I need to see you tonight. Are you free?_ '

Naruto's phone vibrated and he looked at his screen. ' _Tonight's not good._ ' Naruto began to form another text message. 

' _I'm going through withdrawals. Bad._ ' 

Another minute passed and Naruto's screen lit up with an incoming text message. ' _Okay. Let's meet at the usual spot around 11._ '

Naruto slid his phone back into his pocket and walked out of the single stall bathroom. He walked towards the cafe on the first floor of the library. After making the purchase Naruto held a green tea in one hand, and a coffee with too much sugar in the other. He turned around and came face to face with Shikamaru. Naruto jumped back. This kid had a habit of just appearing out of thin air.

"Student council!" Naruto spoke as his eyes lit up. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and spoke dryly, "Ha-Ha." Shikamaru looked from Naruto's right hand to his left hand. "Studying with someone?" Shikamaru asked. "Yeah...something like that..." Naruto answered sheepishly.

"I just wanted to remind you...The Konoha State Dinner is this Friday with Suna," Shikamaru explained. The Konoha State Dinner was something that happened on a biannual basis as a diplomatic affair to strengthen the alliance with the surrounding countries. Once in June, and the other in December. It was a black tie event, and an event Naruto had been forced to attend since he was a child. It was a droll event where the adults carried around big sticks and spoke softly to one another.

"I know it's a drag, but there will be a car picking us up around 5:00PM...anyways...good luck on your exams," Shikamaru finished as he walked away bringing one hand up to say goodbye.

"Yeah...you too..."

Once Shikamaru left Naruto shifted the tea into his other hand, pressing the coffee close to his chest as he pulled out his cell phone once more. Naruto replied to Haku. 

' _See you then_ '

*****

Sunday 11:00PM.

Naruto was pacing back and forth erratically, and as if to keep himself occupied he began chewing the skin around the tip of his thumb. Despite it being below 40 degrees Fahrenheit Naruto had his orange bomber jacket unzipped revealing a thinly made t-shirt; which was all that protected him from the below freezing temperatures.

It was as if Naruto didn't even feel the coldness as evident by the droplets of sweat forming on his temples. That part of his brain was asleep. The part that told Naruto if he stayed out in the cold any longer he would experience hypothermia.

"Naruto?" Haku called out. He slowly approached the blonde boy, and as if a deer caught in headlights Naruto turned grotesquely towards Haku, and froze. His eyes glassy and staring transfixed. It stopped Haku in his tracks with hesitation.

The FM radio static inside Naruto's head was growing louder and he could feel it even in his teeth.

Haku took a few steps closer but maintained his distance. Haku was dressed warmly in a parka jacket, a scarf, and fingerless gloves. 

"Haku!" Naruto finally spoke recognition emitting through his blues eyes, and coming back to life. The blonde moved towards the other boy explaining in a high pitch voice, "I don't know what's going on with me...I feel like I'm going fucking crazy!"

"...maybe this is good...maybe you should stop…this seems like the right time to stop," Haku concluded as his chocolate brown eyes scanned the manic blonde over.

"I can't! I can't stop Haku!" Naruto spoke with a desperation that even surprised him.

"I told you before...it's okay to do it when you're having fun...but you're not having fun anymore," Haku spoke in his calm polite voice.

"Oh. Shut. Up." Naruto barked. Emphasizing every syllable. Fed up with the patronizing tone. "I just need to get through exams, and I have this stupid state dinner I have to attend on Friday, so of course I'm not having any fun! I'm falling the fuck apart, Haku!" Naruto spoke just as erratically as he was acting. He then pulled from his pocket his wallet which he opened to reveal twenty and fifty dollar bills.

"How much do you want?" Naruto asked as he jammed the wallet towards Haku, but Haku made no moves to take the wallet.

"You're not playing by the rules, Naruto." Haku concluded again and he took a step back.

"Fuck the rules, Haku. We make up whatever rules we want to suit our own needs just like my stupid old man," Naruto yelled. His voice echoed in the night. Naruto realized that Haku was wearing a red lipstick, the color of blood on his lips, as well as eyeliner and mascara on his eyes. He looked strikingly beautiful.

"Okay...fine. But, you need to make a deal with me," Haku spoke softly. It immediately began to soothe Naruto. "I want you to accompany me this Friday night to the Tree Leaves Hotel-"

"Okay! Okay! Okay!" Naruto quickly interrupted with his head bobbing up and down.

"I don't think you understand...I don't want you to go to the dinner on Friday. Instead I want you to come with me on Friday." Haku clarified. 

Naruto realized what Haku was saying. It didn't occur to Naruto that he had another choice when it came to the Konoha State Dinner. It didn't occur to Naruto he had freedom to make any other choice...an alternative choice...to anything other than what was already planned, conceived, and dictated by Namikaze Minato.

A light bulb clicked on.

"Okay..." Naruto answered more slowly and carefully this time. His warm smile emerging on his features. The mania rescinding. "I'll do whatever you want…Haku!"

Haku pulled Naruto close to him, bringing his red stained lips to Naruto's kissing him. Haku pressed his body almost feverishly against Naruto's body. The wallet slid from Naruto's fingertips and plummeted to the ground forgotten. In that moment Naruto felt the warmth and closeness of Haku's body and noticed how freezing and empty he really felt inside. The parts of his brain that had turned off taste and touch had flipped back on and Naruto suddenly felt every ache and pain in his own body, as well as tasted every inch of Haku's mouth.

Naruto's fingers, which hurt to move because of the cold, found themselves beneath Haku's clothing only stopping the exploration when he was greeted with the warmth of Haku's flesh. The kiss had deepened. Both wanted something from the other. Naruto wanted the pain in his gut to alleviate, the static in his brain to turn off, and the emptiness in his rib cage to be filled.

...and Haku? Well...Naruto didn't know what he wanted. But he hoped that Naruto could give Haku whatever is was he wanted. Although Naruto couldn't tell what Haku wanted exactly he felt it on an unconscious level.

Haku pulled away breathlessly and for a moment held tightly onto the back of Naruto's head and neck, pressing his forehead to Naruto's forehead. Breathing heavily. It felt as if Haku wanted to tell him something...something important. There was a vulnerability on Haku's features, and just when Naruto was about to ask what was wrong Haku pulled away, and his mask went back on. Devoid of any emotion except a smile.

Haku pulled from his pocket an orange prescription bottle filled with orange capsules and yellow smiley-face square sheets. He handed it to Naruto.

"Thank you Haku," Naruto smiled his one-hundred watt smile that brightened his eyes and made him appear younger. Naruto leaned down and grabbed his wallet and placed it back into his pocket. 

"So this Friday...we're going to the Tree Leaves Hotel?" Naruto clarified as he brought the orange prescription bottle into his coat pocket.

"Hm." Haku nodded his head, "I know your secret...and soon...you'll know mine."


	11. Monster

# Monster

 

Thursday 5:00PM.

Naruto was sitting at the edge of his chair, his right leg bobbing up and down, and he was clicking his pen in and out. Naruto was flipping through the flashcards Sasuke had created on literary terms. Sasuke was seated across the table writing out the themes of each book they had read, and Sakura was seated between them. However, she had abandoned her studying to stare angrily at Naruto.

"Stop it!" Sakura hissed loudly at Naruto. She was unable to listen to the incessant clicking noise anymore. Naruto broke out into an apologetic smile, "Sorry! Sorry!"

"Sit still!" Sakura demanded as Naruto began fidgeting around in his chair. 

"Sakura! You put me in a library and expect me to be quiet and sit still? Lower the bar of your expectations of me...please!" Naruto spoke as he spread out his hands and laid his head on the table as if to emphasis his point.

"Hey watch it-" Sasuke said as Naruto's hand got too close to him writing. "Ursuratonkachi!"

Naruto folded his arms and rested his head on them as he stared at Sakura a sly smile spread his lips, "Hey...Sakura how about you and me go see a movie this Saturday?"

"I refuse!" Sakura spoke so quick her words slurred together almost as if to form one word. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto began laughing his fully belly laugh in response. A small smile spread Sakura's lips and she glanced at Sasuke who was watching Naruto. There was a softness to Sasuke's expression as he watched Naruto...almost tender. Sasuke felt her gaze and met it as if to say, ' _See? There is nothing to worry about._ ' Sakura nodded her head in agreement. She continued to watch Sasuke but his eyes focused back on his notebook. Sakura wanted to see that expression Sasuke had once more, but it was gone.

"You've gotten more serious about your school work, Naruto." Sakura commented as she picked up her pen and began writing in her perfectly sized penmanship, "I'm proud. You make me want to work harder."

"You better not drag Sakura and I down with you," Sasuke commented with a sly smile on lips. Naruto then pushed himself upwards and leaned back in his chair throwing both arms behind his head, "Yeah...yeah...yeah! It keeps my old man off my back, y'know."

Once they had finished studying the trio made their way back outside. 

"Wow! It's snowing!" Naruto exclaimed throwing his arms out and his head back. Thick, fluffy, snowflakes were falling from the sky coating everything in a white blanket. Sasuke and Sakura both turned to see Naruto's face. The light that radiated from his smile lit up his features and the warmth that was being emitted could almost physically be felt. Naruto threw his arms around both Sakura's and Sasuke's necks pulling them close to him.

"There is something magical about witnessing the first snow with your best friends!" Naruto spoke cheerfully as he continued to hold onto them. 

"You're such a child sometimes, Naruto," Sakura commented as she shifted her gaze to the side hiding the smile on her lips.

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke spoke dispassionately as he also shifted his gaze to the side hiding his own smile that had formed on his lips.

In that moment Naruto felt the warmth fill him up completely. The happiness he felt spread through his body from the tip of his skull, to the tips of his fingers, to the tips of his toes. For a moment they were all back to being ten years old and walking together. As if no time had changed at all. Naruto wanted to capture this feeling to seal it up forever in a box. They had been separated for over a year and now they were reunited. It filled Naruto to the brim and he couldn't stop himself from smiling.

*****

Friday 5:00PM.

Naruto and Haku left campus immediately after their last exam, more so because Naruto didn't want to chance running into Shikamaru. It was less of a chance of Naruto becoming guilt ridden and caving. Out of sight out of mind. Yes, it was much easier to leave the campus with his school bag, and everything, than risk returning to the dormitory.

"Turn your phone off," Haku suggested and Naruto immediately complied. Another great suggestion. Naruto wouldn't have to have the constant anxiety of rejecting the phone calls, ignoring the text messages, or listening to the voicemails that would certainly be bombarding him.

It was officially the beginning of winter break and Naruto and Haku were sitting side by side drinking caramel latte macchiatos on a park bench.

"Are you going to tell me why we're going to the hotel tonight?" Naruto asked. He tried taking another drink but it was much too hot and it burned the tip of his tongue. He reeled back. Naruto was too impatient to wait, but Haku sat there, cupping the togo cup with both hands, waiting patiently. Haku was wearing red lipstick, winged eyeliner, and mascara. The look suited Haku. They were both still dressed in their school uniforms. They didn't return to the dorms after all. They didn’t look out of the ordinary. Just two students drinking coffee in the park this Friday afternoon. Nothing to see here.

"I'm meeting my guardian tonight." Haku spoke carefully, being particular with his choice of words. 

"Guardian?" Naruto asked as he began blowing on his drink wanting it to hurry up and cool.

"His name is Zabuza…" Haku continued. "My father murdered my mother...and is currently incarcerated at the Kuni Penitentiary...and Zabuza...Zabuza is now my law guardian." 

Naruto immediately stopped blowing into his drink and looked at Haku. Comprehending Haku’s disclosure. A look of horror on his features...and Haku continued to wear his smiling mask. Unfazed. It was as if he told Naruto his favorite color, food, and things he liked to do for fun.

Haku came from the bloody mist a nickname the media attributed due to the ongoing civil conflict within Mizu no Kuni. There was death and chaos within the country, and it was what the media threatened would happen in Konoha if things didn't change politically.

"So...we're just meeting your law guardian?" Naruto asked, and Haku nodded his head up and down. 

*****

Friday night 7:30PM.

Naruto glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall behind the receptionist at the Tree Leaves Hotel. Naruto was already missing for two and a half hours. His breath caught in his chest. His heartbeat quickened, and his stomach began to flip-flop. He suddenly felt overheated and panicky. He was disobeying. He was embarrassing his father. He wasn't living up to the perfect son of the Hokage. 

Naruto began to focus on the things around him trying to distract himself from the self-deprecating thoughts. It was a luxurious hotel and everything was architecturally pleasing and decorated in exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style. Asymmetry, scrolling curves, gliding white and pastel colors. In such a way where it was evident that money wasn't a problem. The floor was a beautifully cut white marble. The ceilings were vaulted, and the rooms spacious. There were three porcelain water fountains depriving the greek gods. The hotel had a full bar, a gift shop, spa, and two four star restaurants on the first floor alone.

All in all a very luxurious hotel where luxurious things happened to luxurious people.

Haku was handed a room key, and he bowed his head in gratitude at the receptionist. In the external glass elevator headed towards the top level Haku's facade began to crack. Tiny black cracks began breaking through the clay mask and splinters fell to the ground.

"Naruto…" Haku spoke hesitantly. He began turning the hotel key around in his hands nervously. "Mmm?" Naruto answered as his eyes dropped to the shrinking ground level. Seeing how high they were ascending caused his stomach to drop. He felt woozy. 

"Maybe...I can do this by myself." Haku spoke and Naruto turned to look at him, and raised his eyebrows at Haku's expression. Haku's eyebrows were furrowed together and his eyes were downcast at his feet. A look of nervousness and regret flashed across Haku's face. 

"Yeah-yeah...just wait for me in the lobby," Haku concluded as he made up his mind and met Naruto's eyes.

"What? Why?" Naruto asked puzzled just as the elevator stopped moving. A loud dinging noise sounded as the glass doors opened. Naruto smiled warmly at Haku, obviously realizing the boy was just worried and anxious about having to meet his law guardian. It was natural after all. He was here to offer Haku emotional support. Naruto still felt nervous in the presence of Namikaze Minato. 

"There's nothing to worry about. Don't worry I'm here, Haku. I’m not going anywhere.” Naruto grabbed hold of Haku's wrist turning the boy's hand around so that Naruto could read the number on the hotel keycard. 

"Room 3707. Let's go."

*****

Friday 8:30PM.

Naruto had always known there were bad people in the world.

When he was eight he attacked an assailant who threatened to take Hinata away. Although at the time his concept of a bad person was black and white, and at that time he still looked at the world through childish eyes. Naruto knew the man was bad but didn't know to what extent. Only when he grew older did he realize that the man who had targeted Hinata had a sexual obsession with little girls, and violently raped them over a three day period, before strangling them to death with pantyhose, leaving their naked bodies to rot in abandon buildings.

When he was ten years old he witnessed a man murdering another, execution style, simply because he was ordered to. It wasn't a crime of passion, or some pent up rage, or even an act of revenge. The man was given an order and he simply carried out that order. There were these kinds of bad people in the world. Those with the mentality of ' _It's a dog eat dog world_ '. If they didn't kill somebody...then somebody was going to kill them.

Fuck. Just a few months ago he realized there were bad men in this world who sold drugs to minors in the back alleyways of Konoha. People who worked for the Uchiha Police, but trafficked drugs on the streets. There were also trigger-happy, paranoid, bad people existing in this world. Bottom-feeders. Leeches. Maggots.

Yes, Naruto always knew that there were bad people in the world...but tonight there was another layer added and another horror he witnessed about just how bad...just how evil a person could be...

"If you hurt him I'll fucking kill you!" Naruto spoke between gritted teeth his voice teeming with anger. His lip was busted open and bleeding so much he could taste the metallic rust filling his mouth.

The man named Zabuza had one arm wrapped around Naruto's shoulder, and his fingers brushed against the fabric of Naruto's shirt. They didn’t stop there. His fingers began feeling Naruto's chest, moved down his stomach until they reached the fabric over his crotch. The man's other hand held the handle of a handgun, which was cocked, and the nuzzle of the gun pressed firmly to Naruto's temple.

"If you weren't the Hokage's brat I would have fucked you raw myself and put a bullet through your head," Zabuza spoke with a cold malice. "But something tells me you can keep a secret, just as well, if not better than Haku."

Naruto swallowed painfully. 

"...because you know what will happen to Haku if you told anybody right?" Zabuza continued. He leaned lower and whispered into Naruto's ear, "I'll kill him."

Naruto froze up. Naruto knew what death was and it wasn't an abstract thought...but something concrete and fearful. 

"Kids like you will never understand that some kids have to work...some kids are orphans and need to work in order to feed themselves, to clothe themselves, and to put a roof over their heads."

Zabuza paused and looked Naruto over. The way Zabuza looked at him made his skin crawl as if cockroaches were under his flesh.

"You're a pretty attractive kid...blonde hair...blue eyes...your price would be pretty high. You're what they call exotic," Zabuza explained as his fingers began moving over the fabric of Naruto's pants, his fingers cupping his balls, and Naruto froze up. Zabuza began massaging Naruto and blood began rushing to his penis. Zabuza brought his lips to Naruto's neck and began kissing, and sucking the skin, as he continues fondling Naruto. The barrel of the gun pressing to his temple prevented him from doing anything, saying anything, forcing him to accept everything that was happening to him.

Naruto's mind filled with FM radio static. Naruto felt an erection forming and he closed his eyes. Panting. Flushing. Sweating.

"You do have a slutty side to you too...just like Haku...you sluts always acting like we're forcing you. When you're practically begging for it," Zabaku spoke pulling his mouth away from Naruto.

"You piece of shit," Naruto spoke between gritted teeth his eyes opening. Closing his eyes wasn't working. He couldn’t make himself disappear. Nobody was going to save him. 

"Imagine my disappointment...I told Haku to recruit somebody else...I told him it must be hard having to please all these clients all by himself...all the time. I care about the slut. I really do...but what does he do? He brings me the Hokage's brat? Oh...Haku is full of spunk alright...always so fucking defiant. So imagine my disappointment..."

Naruto focused his attention on the oil painting hanging above the couch on the opposite wall. It was a painting of a woman sitting in a row boat out in the middle of a pond.

"I'm going to tell," Naruto threatened bring his eyes to stare defiantly at Zabuza. It was an empty threat. He wanted to test him.

Zabuza had pulled the trigger right next to Naruto's ear and the bullet, two inches from his face, entered the back of the couch. A loud ringing noise filled Naruto's right ear and for a moment he thought he was deaf. He flinched and jumped out of his skin. His head instinctively moved to the left and a stifled scream emitted from his mouth. His teeth began to clatter and tears filled his eyes. Zabuza positioned the barrel of the gun back against Naruto's temple.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear you...what did you say you were going to do?"

"NARUTO!" Haku screamed as he appeared in the doorway of the master bedroom. Naruto opened his eyes. There was a sensory overload happening within Naruto. Sights. Sounds. Smells. Tastes. Touches. Everything whirled together and became incomprehensible. The Callisto that was fed to him by Zabuza twenty minutes ago was beginning to take effect. Pupils so dilated it almost covered the blueness of his eyes. Eclipsing it. The parts of his brain that regulated his fight, flight, or freeze response went numb.

Zabuza finally released Naruto and stood up walking away. The gun was still pointed at Naruto, and it was something he saw from the corner of his eye. Naruto continued panting. 

"What's with that look Haku? Didn't I teach you to always wear a smile? Your face is only beautiful when you're wearing a smile. So wear a fucking smile!" Zabuza barked as he walked over to Haku and grabbed hold of his chin and jerked his head from side to side. "SMILE!"

"Stop! I'll do it...just don't hurt him." Naruto begged and Haku immediately shook his head from side to side. "Naruto no!"

"Ahhh...someone who can keep a secret and help you out Haku...my my my...what a lucky slut you are," Zabuza spoke as he let go of Haku's face.

Naruto stood up, his legs felt like noodles and he wobbled as if reverting back to a toddler and first learning to walk. The ringing in his right ear didn't go away. Everything in the penthouse suite was vibrating and pulsating. And the taste of metallic blood filled his mouth. The fear of death was at the edge of everything he felt. 

Naruto moved and stood by Haku, "I won't let you do this alone, Haku...I told you..I'm here you don't have to worry anymore." Naruto smiled his signature smile at Haku. He could put on masks as easily as Haku could. It was an innate feeling that Naruto felt since he was small...since he was eight and attacked the assailant and saved Hinata. Naruto was going to do whatever he needed to do to protect his friends. The Callisto was taking affect and the wave of pleasure washed over him.

It was the driving force that grabbed Haku's hand with his own, and lead Haku back into the bedroom, back into the darkness, back towards the monsters...back into the nightmare that Haku faced by himself time and time again, only this time Haku wouldn't have to face it alone...this time Haku had Naruto by his side...and somehow when you weren't alone anymore the nightmare didn't seem so scary.

Naruto lost his virginity to a man that paid five hundred dollars cash, and wired two-hundred and fifty to Zabuza. 

Throughout the experience Naruto thought back to last night back to when he was walking alongside Sakura and Sasuke when they witnessed the first snow fall together...yeah...that was a great memory.


	12. Come Little Children

# Come Little Children

 

"I killed my mother," Naruto spoke mechanically needing to fill the silence with something. "When I was born...I killed her. There was a choice...my father wanted the doctors to save my mother...and my mother wanted them to save me. I guess you can say my mother won their last argument."

It was Saturday morning and sunlight filtered through the window. Everything was still. Everything was calm. It didn't make sense how the world could continue to move forward without so much as a hiccup, without so much as a pause when a crime was committed. Naruto barely realized what was happening...until he heard Haku saying the words. ~~Child Prostitution.~~

 

> pros·ti·tu·tion (noun) the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment, the unworthy or corrupt use of one's talents for the sake of personal or financial gain.

 

Naruto's hair was wet and droplets of water rolled down the sides of his face. He smelled of expensive shampoos and soaps which the Tree Leaves hotel stocked the penthouse bathrooms with. Irregardless, it didn't mask the rot and infection that had been ravaging within him. Naruto could feel the rot, smell the sick. No matter how much soap he but on his body no matter how much he scrubbed his skin raw it remained. The rot. The sick. Festering.

Haku sat besides him with equally wet hair that clumped together, his makeup washed away, and wearing the same plush white robe as his blonde companion. Both empty. Both spent. Both numb. They were both given oxycodone for the pain. 

They hadn't slept. Alone in the hotel room. Check out was 11:00AM.

Naruto was putting pieces of his reality together to form a coherent picture, attempting to make sense of the world that had shattered into a tiny million pieces.

"I had a thought last night...if I could kill my own mother...maybe it wouldn't be the worse thing if I killed Zabuza," Naruto continued to speak in the same mechanical voice. Naruto rolled his head to look at Haku needing confirmation, "I'm pretty sick aren't I?"

Haku turned to look at Naruto and offered his own explanation, "Only if I'm sick for wishing my father killed me too." Naruto was just a stupid, bratty kid and didn't have the right words to say. There was something broken deep inside, and he couldn't even make up any pretty words, or string together beautifully masterful lies to make Haku, or himself, feel better. So he didn't. He kept quiet. 

The only way Naruto could respond was to hug Haku, and so he did.

Naruto's eyes trailed to the stack of money that was left on the coffee table, and then to the bullet hole that was still embedded in the suede couch across from them. Naruto still had a ringing sound in his right eardrum. He didn't know if the ringing was real or if he was just imagining it. It was all evidence that a crime had taken place. A crime against children. A crime that for all intents and purposes simply did not happen. Because they wouldn't tell. Because they would keep the secret. Because Haku would die if Naruto told. 

"Now what?" Naruto asked with half lidded eyes as he released Haku and sank back down into the coach. Wanting nothing more than to sleep, but was too terrified to close his eyes and dream. The oxycodone although masked the pain his body endured left him sleepy. He wanted to sleep, but he couldn’t. Check was at 11:00AM.

"Now...we keep each other's secrets...and take some medicine to help take the edge off..." Haku spoke as he pulled out a packet of white power.

*****

Naruto was dancing on top his bed with the stereo blaring electronica. Shikamaru was standing in the middle of his room lecturing him. Blah. Blah. Blah. Naruto had tuned him out choosing to press the volume of the stereo higher with the remote in hand. Higher and higher. The music drowned out his conscience. Naruto had mixed cocaine with his adderall and he was flying high. The door flung open and three men wearing kitsune masks appeared. Swords attached at their backs.

Ah fuck. The party was over.

Naruto stretched his arms out and dropped himself down until he was sitting at the edge of his bed. He clapped his palms together and bowed his head proclaiming, "I am really sorry. I will repent! Honest~!" Shikamaru had grabbed the remote angrily and turned the stereo off. Silence.

"Christ Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled as he threw the remote on the floor, spun on his heels, and immediately left the room. Naruto watched Shikamaru apathetically, not bothering to acknowledge him in the least bit, before turning his attention back to the three Anbu members. He straightened up and tilted his head to the side. 

"Naruto...Yondaime is requesting your presence immediately," the masked man in the middle spoke. Naruto threw his arms back on his bed, supporting his weight, and stared from one masked man to the next. The Anbu were the Hokage's personal bodyguards, black operatives, and they were dispatched specifically to retrieve Naruto. It was laughable. Their appearance caused Naruto to snort in protest. They were acting like Naruto was some armed and dangerous fiend. Honestly. He rolled his eyes. 

"My father can't even come himself? I don't see why I need to see him, we don't have anything to discuss...I missed the dinner...and I am honestly feeling _so_ remorseful..." Naruto spoke sarcastically as he bobbed his head up and down. The only thing he felt was the cocaine and adderall. He barely felt human and decided he wouldn’t act like one either.

"You're gravely mistaken. It's a formality, really. It wasn't a request. You have the choice of coming willingly...or the choice of us dragging you out," The middle masked man continued in a dignified voice. He pulled the white fox mask back to reveal his face. The man was young. Attractive. In his 20's. Too young. He must be pretty good to be a member of the Anbu.

"I am Uchiha Shisui.” Naruto raised his eyebrows. He was surrounded by Uchihas. Shisui continued, “And I don't think you want me making a scene. But I am fully prepared to make the biggest most exaggerated scene imaginable. Your classmates are still here after all...what do you say? Wanna make a scene with me?" He winked at Naruto. 

Naruto heartbeat quickened. He stared from the inky blackness of Shisui's eyes to the smirk on his lips. Registering the man wasn't bluffing, and had every intention of following through. He didn’t want to make a scene. Naruto wasn't doing good with calling out bluffs...it was better to fold. 

"Ah...Shit."

Naruto began pulling on his orange bomber jacket to which Shisui raised his eyebrows, "You do have a warmer jacket, right...you feral child. It's snowing outside." Naruto scowled at the man before violently zipping the jacket up. "I'm not giving my father the satisfaction of seeing me dressed warmly...or put together."

"You really are a feral child," Shisui commented with mocked surprise. He went to Naruto's open closet. He easily found a knit scarf and matching knit hat. He threw the scarf around Naruto's neck and pulled the hat over his head in one fluid movement.

"Stop it! I can dress myself!" Naruto yelled as he swatted the man's hands away. "Clearly you cannot." Shisui continued tying the scarf around the blonde's neck; all while Naruto continued to scowl at him.

"Such a petulant feral child," Shisui commented at Naruto's expression. Shisui turned over his shoulder and looked at his team members.

"Go start the car I want to debrief Naruto before the meeting with the Yondaime," Shisui ordered, and with a bow the two masked men left shutting the door behind him. Not only was he young but he was also the commander? Interesting. Just who was Uchiha Shisui?

Shisui stared at the door for several seconds before turning his attention back to Naruto. The older man definitely had the features of a Uchiha. Genetics were astronomical in this family. ' _Fuck me_ ', Naruto thought. Even this man was attractive. Wild thick black hair, long eye lashes, and a cream complexion.

Shisui brought his attention back to Naruto. He grabbed hold of Naruto's face with his hand, and moved closer to him. He physically moved Naruto's head to the left, and then to the right, as if examining fruit at the market. Eyes narrowed into slits. Naruto stared back bewildered. This man smelled of rust. 

"What are you currently on? Cocaine? Callisto?" Shisui asked. "Your pupils are so dilated it's like a goddamn eclipse!" 

Naruto swatted Shisui's hand away and shrugged nonchalantly. He appeared almost proud. The older man continued his tirade, "They're reports of you going into a hotel last night with another student…a male student, and staying in the hotel overnight."

Naruto threw his head back and laughed, "Yes...let me see the Yondaime...I want to tell him personally that his only son is gay and is addicted to drugs...or…" Naruto's eyes glittered with knowledge and a glint of malevolence, "...should I tell him that Uchiha Itachi was the one who sold me the drugs?" Naruto didn't have a filter. That part of his brain was asleep. It was as if somebody slipped a truth serum and everything came tumbling out of his mouth. 

"What did you say?" Shisui asked with confusion, the real confusion, eyebrows furrowing together, and searching Naruto to see if he was lying or being truthful. The conclusion: Naruto was being honest. Shisui could always tell if somebody was lying. 

"Yes...that Uchiha Itachi sold me Callisto. Behind the Consignment shop in downtown Konoha." Naruto repeated his voice lowering and becoming more serious. 

"Hn." Shisui murmured as he began weighing the new information with the old information to make an informed decision.

"Fine. We'll go with this...as an act of rebellion you turned your cell phone off and stayed at a classmate's dorm. The reports about the drugs and entering hotels at night were deemed unsubstantiated...and because you're such a feral child you're just throwing a tantrum so it was better to leave you sulking in your bedroom than it was to bring you to the Yondaime."

Naruto smiled a triumph smile and held out his hand, "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

Shisui glanced at Naruto's outstretched hand and patted Naruto condescendingly on the cheek. Pat. Pat. Naruto scowled and dropped his hand over the patronizing gesture. 

"Do not fret we will see each other real soon. Ah...I do not think living by yourself is good for you, feral child...you have to socialize with other humans. Yeah think it's best you move rooms."

"Wait...wait a minute..." Naruto balked. He didn't like any of the words he spoke. The smile left Naruto's face as he read between the lines. He didn’t want to share a room with anyone.

"Yes...I think I'll bring it up with the Director of Residential Services, and strongly encourage them to move you into a dorm with a roommate. Sooner rather than later...we all know what happened with Mowgli, my dear feral child...I don't want you to end up like Mowgli."

*****

"NARUTO!" Sakura's voice was hot and angry. It caused Naruto to tense up bracing himself for a blow. 

The blonde threw up both palms to show the bubble-gum haired girl he was apologetic. "Sorry! Sorry!" Naruto spoke ruefully, but it wasn't enough, and he was met with a punch to his shoulder. It felt like he was hit with a baseball bat. Sakura's monstrosity of a strength only intensified as she grew older, and the pain erupted told Naruto he was going to be tender, if not bruised, over the next few days. It also let Naruto feel just how worried she was over Naruto's sudden disappearance. She was worried and frightened and upset.

"Ow! Ow! Sakura! Please! Stop!" Naruto begged. He easily dodged her next attack by swinging his legs over the bench to the table and moving to his feet. Naruto had abandoned his bowl of ramen and was now in flight mode.

"You turned your cellphone off and vanished, Naruto!" Sakura continued her voice raising with anger as she made moves to punch Naruto again, but he rolled over one of the dining room tables in the mess hall, and placed both his hands up defensively. Feeling safer now that there was a table between them. 

Sakura slammed both palms on the table demanding, "Where were you? Do you know how worried we all were! So. Where. Were. You?" 

Naruto felt other eyes watching him, inspecting him, ready to dissect his every move and every word. Fucking always living in a glass fishbowl. The panicky feeling was in his stomach. His heartbeat quickened. The cranks and reels within his brain working in overtime. ' _Gotta come up with a good explanation._ '

Naruto didn't want to lie and wasn't going to lie to one of his best friends.

"I was...kinda...on a date…" Naruto spoke sheepishly as he brought one hand to scratch the back of his head nervously, while the other went limp at his side. "...and kinda stayed the night."

The indignation on Sakura's face melted away and she went quiet and still rather astonishingly. "With who?" Sakura asked dropping her voice to a whisper, her eyes flickering to look at the students in the immediate vicinity. They quickly turned away avoiding her eyes. Naruto could tell she was going through the rolodex of names and faces of everybody at the academy in her mind.

"He's really quiet and doesn't stand out too much...I don't think you know him," Naruto spoke matching his pitch with Sakura's. Low and careful.

"He?!" Sakura exclaimed and Naruto held up his hands at her, looking distressed and nervous, "Can you please not out me in front of everybody right now...Sakura? 'Kay? Thanks."

Naruto then moved back around the table now that he assessed his life wasn't in danger anymore. He returned to his seat bringing the bowl of shoyu beef ramen closer to him, and picking up the abandoned chopsticks. Naruto began picking up the noodles and moving it around the bowl making sure the miso soup was even over the noodles before bringing the noodles to his mouth.

Sakura slid into the bench parallel from him and lowered her head staring at Naruto's face, "So...when...when did you know?"

"We're really going to talk about this...right now? Aren't you angry with me?" Naruto asked as he swallowed the noodles and brought more noodles to his mouth. 

"Well...yeah! You can't just drop this truth bomb on me and expect me not to talk about it!"

"Well?" 

Naruto glanced up at Sakura before focusing on the bowl in front of him, ignoring her. "Who is it?" Sakura asked her eyes searching Naruto's face for any indication. The blonde remained tight-lipped. "...is it Sasuke?"

Naruto began choking, he dropped the chopsticks, and grabbed the cup of water, bringing the cup to his lips and swallowing. Air was inhaled sharply back into his lungs. Only then did he shoot a look of indignation back at Sakura. He shook his head ‘no’.

"I assure you Sasuke is NOT gay. It must definitely isn't about Sasuke. No way! Just...no! I'm not even attracted to him...not even a little!" 

Naruto took another chug of water, and avoided her eyes nonetheless. Somethings should be left unsaid...like telling your female best friend you sometimes have vivid sexual fantasies involving your male best friend, or your first sexual experience took place in the smelly boy's locker room, or what he really did on Friday night...Naruto shook his head again, bringing the water back to his mouth and drinking the last drop. 

"Well...that was a bit dramatic, Naruto. You can't deny that Sasuke is attractive...and it isn’t far fetched. He hasn't paid attention to any girls...ever." Sakura concluded as she brought her hand up to prop her head up pouting. Her emerald eyes scanning the cafeteria; lingering at each girl in the room wondering what type Sasuke liked.

"Give it a year...he's probably just a late bloomer," Naruto concluded. He began putting more noodles back into his mouth. Saying the words caused his chest to ache, and he immediately regretted it. Afraid it would really happen. Afraid his words would turn prophecy. Sakura nodded her head in hopeful agreement. 

"UZUMAKI NARUTO!" a male voice boomed out causing both Naruto and Sakura to jump out of their skins and snap their heads to the side. Both afraid it was Sasuke. It wasn't. Relief. Instead it was the Residential Director Umino Iruka, and he walked up to their table. 

"I received the most unusual request." 

Iruka had a very large noticeable scar that cut across his face horizontally, and his brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. Iruka's eyes scanned the sprawling letters on the room change request packet, "You will be switching rooms with Hozuki Suigetsu tomorrow and will be boarding with Uchiha Sasuke." 

Iruka looked at the thick packet in his hands and then looked at Naruto. Iruka slammed the packet down on the table next to Naruto gesturing his hand to the packet as if to say, ' _Go on, pick it up._ '

Naruto's eyes widened and he shook his head with a violent ' _no_ '. He held his hand out, "I refuse!" It worked for Sakura all these years so he wondered if it would work for him. It didn't.

Iruka rolled the packet into a cone and struck Naruto across the head, "I do not care if you are the Hokage's son you will be treated the same as everybody else, and will be changing rooms effective tomorrow! Do I make myself clear?"

"I refuse. Can't Sasuke and I just switch rooms and I can room with Suigetsu?" Naruto pressed as he brought his hands to cover his head just as Iruka struck him again with the rolled up request packet.

"Don't you think I didn't go to them first? They both had requested individual rooms, and so I let them decide on who would get the single room...turns out Suigetsu won, so you'll be rooming with Sasuke." Iruka continued as he raised his arm, poised to strike Naruto again if he continued to disagree.

"You don't understand Iruka...Sasuke and I just became friends again and he'll hate me if we room together!" Naruto explained. Iruka gave him a look that said, ' _...and I care because?_ ' 

Sakura quirked an eyebrow asking Naruto, "How do you figure?"

"Y'know...enemies who live together eventually become friends...friends who live together become enemies!" Naruto explained breathlessly turning from Iruka to Sakura. They were both deadpanned and not sympathetic, and stared at him as if he had three heads. 

"Naruto...what kind of backwards logic is that?" Sakura asked.

"Effective tomorrow, Naruto!" Iruka continued. He struck Naruto again across the head with the rolled up packet, before dropping it back on the table. "I will personally be overseeing the room change. Have a good night."

Fuck.

"You like boys, mhm? Hinata...will be so depressed when she finds out," Sakura murmured as she watched Iruka walk away. 

"What? Why would Hinata be depressed?" Naruto asked upset that Sakura wasn't matching his panic, or even trying to sympathize. 

"You're so stupid! You better not do anything to upset Sasuke!" Sakura spoke her voice raising in annoyance. 

"Finally! You're feeling my pain!" Naruto spoke as he grabbed the room request packet. He suddenly lost his appetite. Starting tomorrow he was going to be roommates with Sasuke. His stomach churned and he felt like he was going to vomit.


	13. The Cut

# The Cut

 

Naruto was in a dark wet room, naked, exposed, and he could feel fingers all over his body. Twitching sweating fingers. Fingers pressing against his skin. Fingers scratching his skin. Touching him everywhere, and he couldn't get up, an unknown weight was on top of him crushing his ribcage. He couldn't expand his diaphragm. Couldn't take in oxygen. Twitching, sweating, fingers found themselves in his mouth, forcing it open, filling his mouth and pushing down his throat, choking him.

Naruto woke up violently a loud exasperated sound escaped his lips as he sat upright. Panting as if he had just finished sprinting a 100 meter dash. He was drenched in a cold sweat so much that his shirt clung to his skin. His eyes began adjusting to the darkness and he looked around just as violently as he had awoken. When he recognized his own things did he begin to calm down. His comforter. His desk. His laptop computer. The takeout menu for Ichiraku Ramen.

"Naruto?" a familiar voice broke through the darkness and Naruto turned to the side to see Sasuke sitting up in his bed. He couldn't see Sasuke's expression. Naruto had momentarily forgotten he was no longer in a single dorm, but was now in a double occupancy dorm room. He was Sasuke's roommate.

"...are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" Sasuke asked his voice filled with concern. Naruto broke out into a smile bringing up one hand to the back of his head, "I had a dream that I showed up to midterms naked." A forced lie. "Is that so?" Sasuke asked as he continued to stare at Naruto.

Naruto didn't even bother to find out if Sasuke actually believed him, and chose not to engage. The digital clock on Naruto's desk flashed 5:15AM. It was late enough to take a morning shower. An acceptable time. A suitable excuse to leave the room. It wasn't like he could go back to sleep. 

"I'm going to take a shower...sorry for waking you up." Naruto spoke as he moved from underneath his comforter. He grabbed his towel, and bathroom caddy, before entering their bathroom.

After his shower Naruto returned back to their room.

Naruto opened the bathroom door as quietly as he could and peeked over at Sasuke's bed. A sigh of relief. The raven-haired boy was laying on his side, back facing him, curled under his own comforter. Naruto quietly began getting dressed, pulling clothes at random from the armoire he was provided when he changed rooms.

Ever since the room change Naruto had been on high alert whenever he and Sasuke were in the room together. It made him nervous. Being this close to Sasuke made him sweaty and nervous on whole other level he didn't quite comprehend. His heartbeat quickened and his chest felt tight and constricted. It was anything but comfortable. It didn't make sense. Sasuke spent the night at Naruto's house all the time when they were younger and never once did he experience these physical symptoms.

Things were different now.

' _It's because you like him._ ' An unknown voice from within taunted. ' _You want to kiss him, touch him, fuck him._ ' Naruto froze, a shiver went down his spine, and he straightened up to stare at Sasuke's back. No, it wasn't anything like that...sure he may have had some vivid sexual fantasies that predominantly involved Sasuke but that was just because he was rolling on Callisto. There was a cold laughter coming from within. The laughter was mocking Naruto. The other voice didn't believe Naruto and sweat rolled down his face.

He was pulling on his sneakers when Sasuke rolled over and asked, "Where are you going so early in the morning? It's winter break."

Naruto didn't look up from tying his shoes, "I'm going for a run."

Sasuke pushed himself back up. "This has been happening every night...You've woken up like that...what's going on?"

It was obvious to Naruto that Sasuke wasn't asleep and was laying in bed thinking about Naruto this whole time. He felt guilty. He didn't know how to answer. Naruto pulled on his jacket, zipped it up, and began pulling on a hat, scarf, and gloves. Today he had the wherewithal to dress appropriately for the weather. Naruto glanced at Sasuke to see he was still staring at Naruto waiting for an answer. 

"I'm just anxious about my exam results...if I do poorly my dad will lecture me. Anyways. See ya later." Naruto grabbed his cell phone and wallet, and left the dorm room.

*****

' _You have to be fucking kidding me!_ ' Naruto thought bitterly as he stood in front of the automatic teller machine. His debit card was declined. 'Unauthorized Transaction'. There was a feeling of utter devastation erupting within him. Naruto pulled out his cell phone, turned the debit card over, and dialed the number etched in the back of the hard plastic.

An automatic voice stated: "Card is no longer in active use unable to process funds please contact-" Naruto ended the call gripping his cell phone angrily.

' _He cut me off...he fucking cut me off. Just because I missed that stupid dinner?_ ' Naruto thought bitterly. It was snowing. The world was blanketed in whiteness and there was a grayness about Konoha. A stillness. Naruto wanted to scream, to kick and destroy things, to throw a tantrum. His father had betrayed him...again, and again, and again. Yes, Naruto wanted to throw a fit but he couldn't he was in public and more importantly...

More importantly...Naruto was coming down from his high...and he was out of Callisto...and he was out of adderall… and he was out of money. The snow was no longer beautiful and magical. It was just cold, and devoid of life. It looked how Naruto felt.

*****

"I need money," Naruto blurted out as soon as Haku began walking towards him.

Naruto was back on campus, having wasted a trip to downtown Konoha. The only silver lining was his student ID allowed him to take the public bus for free. Naruto wondered if 'Daddy Dearest' was aware of that small fact. He was fuming. The FM radio static was back in his skull, along with the achiness in his bones. Teeth clenching, caused his jaw to sting. There was a throbbing memorable pain in his gut, and he was teetering on the edge of mania.

"Something happen?" Haku asked as he looked Naruto over. The mania spilled out more and more Naruto opened his mouth to talk. 

"I was cut off…" Naruto spoke barely containing his anger "...and I'm out of Callisto."

"Naruto-" Haku began, but before Naruto would let him lecture him he interrupted, "No. Don't even start...let's just skip the part where you lecture me and get to the part where you help me!"

Haku blinked and furrowed his eyebrows, "...and what exactly are you asking of me?"

"Let's make some money tonight." Naruto said a small telling smile spreading his mouth. "I already did it once...and it wasn't as bad as I thought."

"Naruto-" Haku spoke more sternly, and once again Naruto interrupted, "No. No. No! I'm not going to let him win...he can't keep controlling me Haku! He forced me to change dorms...and then he cut me off! Just because I didn't go to the stupid dinner...It's not fair! I never asked for it...I never asked for any of this!"

Naruto wasn't just coming down from Callisto he was fucking falling from an airplane without a parachute. Plummeting thirty-one thousand feet towards the ground. Haku took Naruto's request under consideration and shifted his eyes to the lake they were standing in front of.

Finding the answer out over the frozen waters Haku turned back to Naruto, "How much do you need?" Naruto shrugged, "How much can we make in one night?"

"Are you serious about this?" Haku asked. Naruto nodded his head. It was quick money. Easy money. Cash passed directly into his hands. There wasn't many options for part time jobs for sixteen year olds, and there was even less of a chance that the academy would approve of his working papers. The money Naruto earned last weekend was spent. 

"If I call...Zabuza...he'll want a cut...but we would make more than if we did it ourselves," Haku spoke as he shifted his weight from one foot to the next. "But...he'll also make sure...nothing bad happens." Naruto had a clear and distinct memory of Zabuza waiting outside the penthouse suite master bedroom with his Glock 19 cocked and loaded, counting the money ensuring it was all there, and demanding condoms were worn.

Naruto had thoughts of slaughtering Zabuza, slashing his throat with a knife, blowing his brains out with his own gun. Didn't think it would come to this. The static in his brain didn't cause him to think clearly. Instead his thoughts were erratic. He needed Callisto. It was all or nothing. He needed it bad. 

"...Call Zabuza." Naruto answered, hesitated and continued, "...but we have to be back by 11:00PM...stupid Iruka has been checking every night to ensure I'm back by curfew."

*****

"Sasuke!" Sakura called as she entered the cafe that was on the first floor of the library. Sasuke was sitting at one of the tables with two cappuccinos in front of him. Sakura sat on the barstool chair and thanked Sasuke as he handed her one of the cups. Sasuke wore a long sleeve black v-neck shirt. Sakura blushed as she glimpsed at Sasuke. Eleven years of friendship and she still felt flustered whenever she was around him.

Sakura had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and was wearing a green headband that covered her ears. She suddenly wished she did something more with her hair and makeup. Especially since Sasuke asked her to meet him here.

Sakura looked at the writing across each of the cups. Written in sprawling loopy lettering was 'Sasuke', only instead of the 'a' it was a distinctive heart in its place. Sakura glanced towards the barista standing behind the counter, who was unabashedly staring at Sasuke. Sakura frowned as she turned her attention back to the dark-haired boy whose attention was transfixed outside.

"You wanted to talk about Naruto?" Sakura asked as she took a sip from her cup. Sasuke glanced at Sakura before rolling his eyes down to the cup in his hand, "He's been having nightmares...he tosses and turns, and he's been saying bizarre things too in his sleep. He wakes up violently. It's keeping me up at night. He won't tell me what's wrong."

Sakura took another drink and sighed deeply, "I think I know why." Sasuke immediately looked at Sakura his expressions telling her to 'go on'.

"It's not my place to say anything...but since you're rooming with him it would be beneficial for you to know…" Sakura continued and she lowered her voice and leaned in close to Sasuke, "...Naruto's gay...he just told me Sunday night...and he's dating a boy who goes to the academy."

Sasuke froze up, his pupils constricted, his breath caught in his throat. His brain slowly began to process Sakura's words. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows and said angrily mistaking Sasuke's expression, "It doesn't matter if he's gay because he's still our friend, Sasuke! You better not be thinking of any homophobic bigotry!"

Sasuke shook his head side to side and recovered, "No...I just...didn't know…" Sakura seemed to calm down and her features softened. 

"Well yeah...why would he tell his best guy friend? He's probably afraid you'll reject him-" Sakura spoke and then something outside the window caught her attention.

"Is that Naruto?" Sakura asked as she perked up, pointing towards two people walking side by side outside. Sasuke turned to look out the window and his eyes fell to Naruto. He would recognize Naruto instantly in a crowded room. Naruto had both hands stuffed into his pockets, scarf loose around his neck, knit cap covered his sunshine blonde hair. He was walking next to someone Sasuke didn't recognize. A girl? A boy? There was a feeling of jealously and anger welling up inside his chest.

"That's Haku...he's a grade older," Sakura explained and her eyes shifted to recognition, "...Naruto is dating Haku?!" She sounded upset with a hint of anger a dash of disbelief.

Sasuke's eyes watched as Naruto and Haku walked past the windows of the cafe neither looking inside. Both engrossed in their deep conversation. Both moving towards the bus stop. Sasuke couldn't look away his eyes trained on them as they continued moving.

"I don't like it…" Sakura breathed her eyes shifting nervously, "I mean...I don't know Haku personally so they could just be rumors…" Sakura trailed off.

"Well?!" 

"Haku...has slept around a lot…with a lot of people...and...I heard Ino saying that Haku has been selling Callisto."

A memory flashed through Sasuke's mind of following Naruto into the alleyway walking into the middle of a drug deal. Sasuke had confiscated the bag full of adderall and Callisto sheets. He immediately flushed them down the toilet. There was a gnawing feeling in the back of his head over how calmly Naruto accepted everything. It didn't add up. It was an unsettling feeling that left him uneasy for a couple of days, because he couldn't figure out why...well the 'why' was walking alongside Naruto. Why did Naruto have to go to downtown Konoha when he was dating a Callisto dealer.

*****

Sasuke was sitting at his desk in front of an open text book, clicking a pen in and out in a rhythmic fashion. His eyes trained on the digital clock. 11:00PM. Naruto was going to be late for curfew, before Sasuke could finish the thought the bedroom door opened and Naruto appeared.

"See Iruka I am here...and going into my room...yes thank you for checking up on me. I really do appreciate it...and I appreciate everything you do!" Naruto exclaimed his voice higher and exaggerated. Naruto shut the bedroom door and leaned up against it exhaling loudly. Sasuke turned around to find the blonde boy had his eyes closed and was breathing slowly. Naruto looked exhausted as if every ounce of energy was sucked dry. 

When Naruto opened his eyes and saw Sasuke staring at him he jumped, "H-Hey!" Naruto pushed off the door, and began stripping of his sneakers, jacket, hat, gloves, and scarf leaving them wherever they fell. Naruto was avoiding his gaze again.

"Naruto…" Sasuke began as he watched the other boy as he began stripping his clothes. "Hey...what are you doing! Do that in the bathroom not when I'm here!" Sasuke turned away embarrassed just as Naruto threw his shirt on the floor and stepped out of his pants. He left a trail of clothes that lead to his bed.

"Sorry...I'm just really exhausted…" Naruto spoke his voice losing its energy as he crawled into bed. Throwing the blanket over him entirely.

Sasuke walked over, grabbed Naruto's comforter and ripped it off throwing it across the room. Naruto who was wearing only a pair of orange boxers, rolled onto his back and stared up at Sasuke angrily shouting, "What the fuck Sasuke! Let me sleep!" Sasuke looked at Naruto's eyes. His pupils so dilated they eclipsed the blueness of his eyes.

"What the fuck Naruto...are you high?" Sasuke accused and Sasuke leaned over inches from Naruto's face confirming his suspicion.

"I-" Naruto began, pushing himself upwards, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He stopped moving. Sasuke was wrapping his arms around Naruto and pulling him into a hug, "Jesus Christ, Naruto. What the fuck are you doing to yourself?"

*****

Naruto was paralyzed as Sasuke wrapped his arms around him in a hug. There was a whirlwind of emotions and none of them were positive. Naruto felt ashamed. The blonde could feel Sasuke's warmth emitting from his body, could feel Sasuke's body pressing against his in a platonic hug, and it caused his cheeks to burn. He felt ashamed. Naruto had perverse thoughts racing through his mind. Thoughts that involved a very naked Sasuke and a very aroused Naruto.

' _How embarrassed I've been if you knew what I was thinking of._ ' Naruto closed his eyes to steady his trembling body.

Naruto had flashbacks about what he had done earlier in the night. And he felt dirty. Naruto felt filthy as if he had rolled around in raw sewage. Naruto wanted to peel his own flesh off his bones.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke for worrying you," Naruto spoke finally. Sasuke pulled away and stared down at the blonde, whose eyes were conveniently closed, and whose expression stoic.

"Is it because…" Sasuke hesitated afraid of revealing information that Sakura disclosed, but was too worried not to, "...you're gay?"

Naruto's eyes opened wide and fearful, "W-what did you say?" Naruto had a flashback of telling Sakura something like that in the mess hall. The concern etched in her face caused his heart to ache. He had to tell her something.

"...Sakura told you didn't she…" Naruto spoke eyes opening hesitantly and he shifted his eyes away. "...something like that...yeah…Just figuring some stuff out-"

"-and you're dating Haku?" Sasuke asked as he stepped back.

Naruto snorted, "...she figured that out didn't she...Christ...who else did she tell?" 

Sasuke swallowed. He didn't want Naruto mad at Sakura when he purposely cornered her into revealing the blonde's secrets. "She only told me."

Naruto brought his eyes to Sasuke's reading his expression to see if he was lying. He wasn't lying.

"No...we saw you two together earlier today walking towards the bus stop." Sasuke explained. "Oh." Naruto answered. Thinking it must have been when they were walking by the library. Fuck. Naruto suddenly felt nauseous. His stomach churned and he felt like vomiting. Sasuke was the last person he wanted to find out. Naruto had to turn things around. Make a better explanation out of things...didn't want Sasuke to find out what was really going on. What Naruto was really doing...panic filled him.

"Are you happy...with dating Haku that is?" Sasuke asked.

"...this is why I didn't want to room with you," Naruto spoke his voice shaking and annoyance rising. He was hitting the internal panic button. The words spewed from his mouth, "I didn't want to have these kinds of conversations with you...I didn't want you to see me like this. I didn't want anything to change between us! And above anything else I don't want you to hate me!" 

Naruto was angry and he stood up causing Sasuke to raise his eyebrows in alarm. Naruto was torn between punching Sasuke in the face, or running from the room. Fight or flight.

"Naruto. I don't care if you're gay...and I don't hate you," Sasuke spoke softly. There was a third option in the fight or flight response...Freeze.

"...it isn't something I want everybody to know," Naruto spoke his demeanor calming down and he looked less manic. "...it's stuff I'm still figuring out y'know...and Haku...well we aren't exactly dating…it's complicated y'know."

"...and the drugs?" Sasuke asked. "Huh?" Naruto perked up. The blonde was spending too much time with Haku...sometimes lying came too easily. Too naturally. Naruto had learned a skill along the way...a skill he didn't even realize he had until he put it into practice and it produced the desired results. The skill of manipulation.

"...I'm a freak...I shouldn't be gay...I should be straight...attracted to girls...sometimes when I'm with Haku we try Callisto...it's easier to forget..." Naruto explained softly. The truth was mixed in. "I don't have to think about disappointing my father...my friends...and I can pretend I'm normal...I'll stop...I don't want to worry you or Sakura...or anyone else..."

Sasuke sat down on his bed staring at Naruto, "Naruto your friends won't care if you're gay...and beside's...your father would most definitely accept you." 

There was a relief within Sasuke, throughout the entire conversation he was inadvertently holding his breath, and he finally exhaled. Naruto said he and Haku weren't dating. Yet...Sasuke didn't know what their relationship was exactly. It bothered him. He wanted to ask, to press it further, but couldn't. Naruto was already raw and exposed. Sasuke had just gotten Naruto to calm down and come back to the side of sanity. 

Naruto smiled. Warmth and life flooding into his features. It softened his features. His pupils constricted and the blueness of his eyes returned. Clear and bright. Naruto played the part well, and got the desired results. Guilt came secondary to his excitement. Manipulation executed perfectly. Naruto didn't realize just how addicted he had became when it came to Callisto. So much that he'd rather spill his guts about his sexuality than focus on his drug abuse. 

"Thank you, Sasuke...but I'm not ready to tell everybody right now..."

Sasuke found himself smiling back at Naruto as he was filled with relief. Naruto still had that calming effect on him. Sasuke stood up, and picked up Naruto's comforter, and tossed the blanket back to Naruto who easily caught it, "Go to bed usuratonkachi."

"Sasuke..." Naruto spoke as he pulled the comforter over him and laid back down in bed, "Thank you...for being my friend."


	14. Heathens

# Heathens

 

_Flashback earlier that night 6:00PM._

Haku was applying matte lipstick using the glass mirror from inside the elevator, and once he noticed Naruto staring at his reflection he caught his attention and held it. Haku placed the cap back on the lipstick and exhaled softly. The elevator continued to ascend to the top floor.

"If you want more money...you need to learn to give a better blowjob," Haku critiqued. He turned around to face Naruto. "Also...you need to take control, and stop acting like a frigid child...or it won't be enjoyable for anyone."

Naruto was still a child.

A stupid, bratty, selfish child. A stupid, bratty, selfish child with an addiction. An addiction for Callisto. Every particle of Naruto's being was screaming for Callisto and the withdrawals effectively turned off parts of Naruto's brain. Turning off only the important parts. It was a cruel trick really. The parts of the brain for reasoning, impulse control, judgement, and planning for the future were flipped off. Deadened. Leaving Naruto starving and trembling for Callisto, living in the moment, and ready to do anything to get another hit of the smiley faced square sheets.

Naruto took Haku's words as a verbal attack, and he saw it as an obstacle that could prevent him from getting the money he needed for the drug he desired. Naruto shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and exhaled angrily, "You're the only other person I've ever done anything with...so if I'm bad it's your fault."

"I know." Haku answered as he gave Naruto a once over "...and it shows."

Haku opened up the penthouse suite with the keycard, room 3707, and entered with Naruto following behind. It was the same room. 

"So what do I do?" Naruto continued his voice still upset and angry. The roots of his teeth throbbed with a dull pain. FM radio static still in his brain.

"Welcome to the grown-up's table boys," Zabuza's voice cut through the air, and Naruto turned around. Zabuza was leaning in the threshold of the kitchen, arms crossed, eyeing them both up and down. Although Zabuza looked hungry...Naruto was even hungrier for what was in the other man's hand.

The man stood approximately six foot and weighed approximately one-hundred and fifty pounds. The man was chiseled with well-defined muscles and wore clothes that were form fitting. There was a darkness in the man's eyes. A depravity. This man shed his humanity long ago and was a living, breathing, monster whose profession was the flesh trade. Selling to the highest bidder.

"Zabuza will teach you what you need to know," Haku spoke and as if on cue Zabuza smiled coldly. Zabuza revealed the orange prescription bottle filled with tiny square sheets with yellow smiley faces. Zabuza opened up the bottle and held a sheet out to Naruto, and his body carried him over until he was in front of Zabuza, his mouth open and ready. Zabuza slid the sheet underneath his tongue and Naruto closed his mouth.

It was bitter. Like baker's chocolate. Less than a minute later and the sheet had dissolved and absorbed into his body. Soon his taste buds were turned off, and his face began to numb. The static inside his brain ceased, and he welcomed the blackness with wide open arms.

*****

Naruto found himself in the master bedroom on top of Haku. The blonde didn't have the wherewithal to comprehend what was happening. He was just doing what he was told. He had taken two sheets, four sheets, six sheets of Callisto. Zabuza was instructing Naruto what to do, how to do it, and for how long. He was getting step by step instructions on how to fuck Haku.

It was what needed to happen for Naruto to get what he wanted. The money for Callisto. The Callisto to numb the pain he felt on every molecule.

There was lubrication on Naruto's fingers. Water-based. Naruto inserted one finger into Haku's anus. He began massaging in and out. Stretching. He then inserted two fingers. The dark haired boy with the matte lipstick began to moan as Naruto moved his fingers inside him. Stretching him more. Naruto worked his deft fingers, and stretched Haku up until he could easily fit three fingers inside. There was a warmth inside. A tight, wet, warmth. Haku's body was puckering and sucking Naruto's fingers. There was arousal inside Naruto, and it was welling up. The Callisto plunged his body into euphoria and every sensation was heightened. Naruto felt blood rushing to his groin at Haku's moans.

Naruto's penis was hard and painful, almost begging for release, as the condom was slipped around the head and pulled down. Naruto continued to finger Haku with his left hand, his fingers pressing against the prostrate gland. Just as he was instructed to do by Zabuza. Naruto's right hand began massaging the water-based lube up and down his penis. Naruto withdrew his fingers from inside Haku, and positioned the tip of his penis to the pink hole that had formed.

Naruto entered Haku slowly, and it was a feeling that was indescribable. A white hurricane of pleasure enveloped Naruto. Haku's anus gripped his penis, and the suction plunged Naruto deeper into him. Naruto began thrusting, in and out, stretching Haku more, and it was fucking incredible. The feeling was indescribable, and Callisto amplified everything times ten. Haku was tight, wet, and warm. Naruto could hear the other boy's moans as he continued thrusting.

Harder. Faster. Yes.

Naruto's body acted on it's own a foreign spirit took control, and when he was spent the condom filled with his come. Naruto pulled it off and discarded it on the bedroom floor, rolling onto his back and panting.

"Not bad for a pregame...now the real game begins," Zabuza's voice cut through and Naruto lazily moved his eclipsed eyes to see Zabuza ushering in an unknown assailant. Round two.

It was what needed to happen for Naruto to get what he wanted...and what Naruto wanted was money for Callisto.

*****

_Flashback 9:00PM._

Itachi was waiting at the Tree Leaves hotel bar.

Itachi was sitting erect on the bar stool, perfect posture, hand wrapped around the rocks glass swirling the whiskey, clockwise. Itachi brought the glass to his lips. He inhaled before pouring the liquid into his mouth, swirling the liquid around with his tongue before swallowing. Itachi needed a drink or two already in his system before he could fully handle Shisui, and as if on cue the other man appeared.

Both men were wearing street clothes with no identifiable markers of either of their professions.

"Itachi! You came!" Shisui sang out as he slid his body into the empty bar stool besides Itachi. Anticipating an impending headache Itachi began massaging his temple with his left hand. Shisui reached for the glass that Itachi still held in his right hand, their fingers met briefly, and Itachi felt his cheeks burn. Shisui pulled the glass from Itachi's grasp, and brought it to his nose.

"Whiskey?" Shisui asked as he handed back the empty glass to Itachi wrinkling up his nose. "So bitter...you haven't changed a bit have you, Itachi?"

Shisui began looking over the cocktail menu only stopping when he found a drink that piqued his interest. White rum, lime and hibiscus. After ordering with the bartender, dressed to the nines, Shisui turned his attention back to Itachi.

"I heard some interesting things from an unlikely source…" Shisui began his voice lowering. Itachi sighed, keeping his eyes straightforward. "You're selling Callisto?" Shisui began moving his eyes to watch the bartender as he began making his cocktail. "I came up with a theory...stop me if I'm wrong. Although you're working as a member of the Uchiha Police Force you were given a special assignment from your father."

Shisui turned his attention back to Itachi searching for a confirmation to his theory. Itachi continued to stare forward. Expression stoic and deadpan. There was a flash of recognition in his dark eyes that Shisui used as the confirmation he needed. 

"Is this assignment part of an undercover operative... or are the police using this as a means to line their pockets?"

The bartender slid Shisui's sixteen ounce collins glass with his cocktail towards him, and then slid Itachi another whiskey neat. Itachi grabbed the glass and brought it to his lips, pausing, before he took a drink to say, "It would be unauthorized disclosure of information, Shisui."

"Itachi...you sold drugs to the Yondaime's son. I already have all I need to arrest you right here." Shisui interrupted in his low voice as he grabbed the collins glass bringing the black straw to his lips; watching Itachi's body seize up in revelation from the corner of his eyes. 

Itachi's mind immediately flipped through the rolodex of clientele he had saw over the past few months only stopping when a blonde haired, blue eyed, boy wearing the uniform for Konoha Preparatory School appeared. Itachi connected Shisui, member of the Yondaime's Anbu, and Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage's son. He sold Callisto to the Hokage's son. Itachi thought back to his younger brother. No wonder Naruto mistook him for Sasuke. Itachi knew that Sasuke's best friend was Uzumaki Naruto...but now...the Hokage's son was addicted to Callisto. 

Itachi sighed. 

"Now we're in a predicament…" Shisui continued. "As a member of the Anbu I have an obligation to notify the Yondaime of corruption within the Uchiha Police Force. Although Fugaku publicly stepped down as Police Commissioner he is still in control of the police. What would he think if his eldest son, the golden child, was arrested? I wonder what his expression would be when he finds out I was the one who arrested you?"

' _Blackmail?_ ' Itachi thought.

Shisui took a deep drink from his cocktail, "Then again...there is an organization the Yondaime wants dismantled. Root. Headed by Shimura Danzo. My sources tell me that there is a conspiracy to usurp the Yondaime. Headed by Shimura Danzo. There are certain people I am tasked with eliminating to prevent such a thing from happening. Only problem is I can't get close enough."

Itachi brought the glass to his lips again this time poured the entirety of the glass down his throat. It burned on it's way down, burning his eyes. Itachi was waiting for the request.

"Where are your allegiances Itachi?" Shisui asked, and it was then when Shisui turned to look at Itachi bringing his hand up to prop his head up. Fingers curling around his cheek. Itachi watched him from the corner of his eye.

"I am no longer welcomed by the Uchiha. It never suited me even as a kid. After I chose to become a member of the Anbu rather than the Uchiha Police. I was excommunicated...In the academy we shared the same ideologies, Itachi...is that still true?"

Itachi continued staring forward carefully dissecting Shisui's words. Examining everything with the magnifying intensity of a microscope. Itachi swallowed the lump that had formed in the back of his throat and closed his eyes in deep thought.

Uchiha Shisui was Itachi's best friend ever since he was ten years old and they roomed together at the Konoha Preparatory School. Itachi had been living in darkness up until that time. There was something separating him from the other children. The differences between Itachi and the other children cut deep, and in turn he was unable to appropriately interact with them. Itachi's intelligence quotient was 168, and his emotional intelligence was dwarfed such that he was unable to express emotions such as happiness, anger, sadness, disgust, fear...love. He acted like a programmed robot.

It left him stoic and apathetic. Unable to relate with anybody including his own family.

Itachi was effectively alone, isolated, and placed on a pedestal. That's how he walked through life. Leaving his home at ten years old because he was a ' _true genius_ '. Shisui appeared and flipped Itachi's life upside down, and backwards. Shisui had pulled Itachi from the darkness. The other boy shown brightly upon Itachi's life. Shisui purposely followed Itachi around and clung to him, so that he was never alone, and treated him no different than the other children.

In doing so Itachi felt himself slowly changing. Itachi began feeling emotions. Annoyance and rage at Shisui, which melted into admiration and contentment, which melted into friendship and platonic love. Shisui become Itachi's best friend.

The only time Itachi felt betrayal from the other boy was when Shisui chose to become a member of the Anbu, instead of a member of the Uchiha Police Force. It meant that Itachi was going to return to the darkness, return to the isolation, and return to the pedestal...and Itachi hated Shisui for doing that to him. Shisui forced Itachi to return to the way life was without him. He was too cruel leaving Itachi in the darkness, only to open the door and extend a hand to invite him back into the light.

Itachi still felt it, and when Shisui contacted him. There was no doubt in Itachi's mind that he was going to meet Shisui and comply with whatever he was going to ask of him. Irregardless.

"My ideologies are still the same," Itachi spoke quietly. "What do you want me to do exactly?"

"We're going to prevent the assassination of Yondaime Namikaze Minato...and dismantle Shimura Danzo's crime syndicate of course. The main target is gathering enough evidence to arrest Danzo, if not then bringing down two other's in Root. Specifically Biwa Juzo and Momochi Zabuza. Yondaime wants it done by the books."

A smile spread Itachi's lips as he turned his head towards Shisui whose smile was spreading his own lips. Itachi called over the bartender ready for another glass of whiskey as he murmured in agreement, "Of course."

Shisui watched the bartender move away making fluid motions as he began pouring liquor.

"On a different note...I have evidence that Yondaime's son is engaging in ongoing drug abuse," Shisui continued and Itachi raised his eyebrows, "We're going to use that to our advantage."

Itachi tilted his head to the side as if to say ' _I'm listening_ '.

"Naruto is currently in room 3707 right now with Momochi Zabuza," Shisui spoke as he pointed up. "Unfortunately...the surveillance cameras are disabled on the thirteenth floor...and Zabuza paid in cash upfront, with stipulations that no hotel staff enters the room, and he even has an outside cleaning crew turn over the room. We're going to slip into that room and set up some cameras to see what's really going on in room 3707." 


	15. Lucky Sevens

# Lucky Sevens

 

Karin pushed her wire framed glasses further up the bridge of her nose her crimson eyes staring desperately at the dark-haired boy seated across from her at the table. Every time she looked at Sasuke her heartbeat quickened and a tightness formed in her chest so much it was unbearable to breathe, unbearable to focus, and unbearable to speak. 

She had been in love with Sasuke since he first transferred, and if he noticed, he chose to ignore it. She wanted nothing more than for Sasuke to be hers and hers only. To be hers forever and always. Soon they were going to be together. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Soon. It was a thought that fueled her sexual fantasies as she masturbated in the showers. Every. Single. Time. Coming as she moaned out Sasuke's name the sound of water pouring from the shower head drowning her out.

"You've been neglecting us, Sasuke!" Karin continued angrily. "You told us you didn't care for your childhood friends...yet you spend the majority of your time with them!" 

Sasuke told her not to worry...those kids from his old school he didn't bother with them anymore...he told her so...and he lied.

Suigetsu, Jugo, Sasuke and Karin seated at the table. They were all gathered for dinner. Yet it was only Karin carrying on with theatrics and dramatics. Jugo and Suigetsu ate quietly.

Sasuke brought a spoonful of curry to his mouth obviously ignoring the redhead, having been use to her lectures whenever he neglected her. Karin was jealous of anybody who managed to capture Sasuke's attention, and had taken mental notes of two individuals who had infiltrated their group of friends and taken Sasuke from them. More specifically two individuals who had taken Sasuke from her multiple times. Over and over again.

Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto.

"...and you're now rooming with Naruto?" Karin continued to complain. "Aren't you worried he's going to try something with you?"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow and finally brought his eyes to meet Karin's, "Hm?"

"He's gay! Aren't you afraid he's going to...I don't know...molest you while you're sleeping?" Karin continued her voice desperate.

It was something that Karin overheard while she was spying on Sakura and Naruto, and something that was spinning around in her head ever since she overheard them talking. She purposely sat behind them in the mess hall during dinner time wanting to gather intelligence on something, anything, she could use against them. Karin was desperate. 

At first Karin was only worried about Sakura, considering her as her only love rival, but things multiplied when she found out Naruto was gay, and now sharing a room with Sasuke.

Homosexuality is unnatural, a perversion, an abomination, fornication, vile affections. Karin didn't want Naruto to corrupt her pure Sasuke, and Karin needed to save Sasuke from Naruto's vile intentions. Had to stop Naruto no matter what. Had to save Sasuke.

"What?" Suigetsu blurted out as he brought his attention from the curry to Karin. "No...fucking way…" Suigetsu continued as he digested the information. Naruto was gay?!

"It's true!" Karin cried defensively. "I heard it from the horses mouth and everything!" 

"Karin." Sasuke spoke coldly, and she turned to look at Sasuke. "Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you." 

Sasuke stood up violently, grabbing hold of his tray as he did before walking away.

"Sasuke...wait! I'm sorry!" Karin cried after him. This wasn't going to work. Sasuke clearly already knew and it didn't bother him, and now he was mad at her.

"Karin...you're not going to reach Sasuke's heart if you keep this up," Jugo commented softly. Karin balled her hands into fists and slammed them down on the table. She had to try something else...she had to try harder...HARDER! Karin grabbed her tray and stood up walking away in the opposite direction.

Suigetsu leaned over the table watching Karin storm away as he spoke to Jugo, "If I were to put money on somebody in our class who would snap and start shooting people...it would be Karin."

Jugo closed his eyes and shook his head no and spoke disapprovingly, "Suigetsu…"

"I know! I know...but that one is mental!" Suigetsu defended as he brought a spoonful of curry to his mouth.

*****

The rumors morphed and elaborated around campus.

Naruto was already living in a fishbowl only this time pedestrians pressed their faces up against the glass. Smudging it. He noticed it when he was walking down the hallway the first day of classes after winter break. The first thing somebody said as they purposely bumped into his shoulder was, "Fag." Naruto spun around to see an unknown male walking away.

At first Naruto tried to explain these things away. Misheard. Misunderstood. Mistaken identity. Naruto went throughout the school day hypervigilant. Enhanced state of sensory sensitivity coupled with behaviors that detected any and all activity around him. Three weeks had passed since he came out to Sakura and Sasuke...and now the entire school was talking about it. 

The whispering. The jeering. The pointing. The hissing. 

It was becoming more and more difficult to explain away. It was only when Naruto was slammed up against the wall in the corridor of the dormitory by an older boy, did he begin to accept reality. The boy, a senior, pressed his arm against Naruto's chest hissing, "Watch where you're going, faggot."

Naruto moved on instinct, swinging his fist until it connected with the boy's jawline. Naruto watched as the boy's head jerked to the side, and he swung again punching the boy square in the nose, only this time crimson blood gushed from the other boy's nose. Naruto didn't stop. If anything the blood drove him manic, and he kneed the boy between the legs, before shoving him backwards. It was a cheap shot...and Naruto knew he was playing dirty but it didn't matter. He wanted him to choke on his words.

The boy rolled to his side, moaning in pain, and Naruto swung his leg ready to kick the boy's teeth in when a voice stopped him.

"Naruto!" it was Sasuke. Naruto lowered his foot back to the ground. He stared hard at the dark-haired boy who had interrupted. There were only four people on campus who knew about his sexuality. Yuki Haku and Nara Shikamaru knew since the beginning of school...the only two new variables were Sasuke and Sakura...and Sasuke was in front of him. 

"Did you tell?" Naruto accused his voice shaking. Sasuke looked puzzled, but it wasn't an excuse. It wasn't a fucking excuse. Naruto was grabbing hold of Sasuke's shirt, with both hands, screaming in his face, "Did you fucking tell people about me? Did you!"

Sasuke's hands flew up and grabbed Naruto's wrists yelling back as he attempted to dislodge the blonde off of him, "Of course I didn't!"

"Then who did?" Naruto screamed again as he shoved Sasuke up against the wall. 

"Naruto...I didn't say anything!" Sasuke spoke his voice low and serious. Dark eyes stared deep into Naruto's blue eyes. He was telling the truth. Naruto felt it and he let go of him.

"Fuck!" Naruto exclaimed as he pulled the key from his pocket, unlocked the door to their dorm, and entered. Sasuke at his heels.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked as he closed the door behind him.

Naruto had thrown his school bag on the floor, "...everybody knows...about me...that's what's going on!" Naruto began loosening the tie around his neck, before pulling it off, and throwing that too across the room. Anger rising like mercury in a thermometer.

Sasuke thought back to Karin. If she had found out it meant other people had found out and the rumor mill began moving with the current. 

"Naruto...it won't change anything...you still have friends who care-"

"Shut up...just shut up Sasuke! What could you possibly know about anything? What could you possibly know what I'm fucking going through? I wasn't ready for people to know! I can't show my face now!" Naruto ranted in hysterics.

"Naruto…" Sasuke continued his voice becoming strained. He was unsure on what to say to calm Naruto down. One thing for certain was Sasuke didn't want Naruto to leave the room. Panic took hold of Sasuke. Because if Naruto did leave...he would find Haku...and Sasuke didn't want them together. Haku wasn't a good person. He was toxic and infecting Naruto. The more time they spent together the more Naruto began to change. His personality becoming more manic and erratic. The more time Naruto spent with Haku the more Naruto woke up screaming in the middle of the night. 

Haku was eclipsing the sun within Naruto. No! Sasuke didn't want Naruto to leave. He wanted Naruto to stay with him. Sasuke's eyes fell to the Ichiraku Ramen takeout menu.

"Want to order some ramen? My treat."

"What did you say?" Naruto asked flabbergasted the anger deflating from his voice. "I'm a little upset right now...so don't joke!" Naruto was breathing heavily. Chest rising up and down. Naruto's immediate thought was to go to Haku...to go to Haku so he could take a sheet or two of Callisto. Forget everything.

But...Sasuke was asking him to order ramen with him...and it was his treat. Right? Naruto stared at Sasuke needing clarification.

"I'm not joking...do you want ramen?" 

Sasuke walked past Naruto and grabbed the takeout menu, and held it up to emphasize how serious he was. Naruto's blue eyes shifted to the menu in Sasuke's hands, before shifting back to Sasuke's face. 

"You bastard…" Naruto spoke his voice soft. "Of course I want ramen...Your treat?" 

Sasuke nodded his head yes, and for a moment Naruto hesitated. Teetering on the edge of wanting to go to Haku...to Callisto...and wanting to stay here with Sasuke...and eat ramen together. Sasuke smiled at Naruto, and the last bit of anger had evaporated from his body. Sasuke's smile was something otherworldly, and it filled Naruto with warmth. A smile broke out over Naruto's features and he grabbed the menu from Sasuke's hand.

"Okay...if it's your treat…"

*****

Sasuke was seated cross legged on the floor. 

The atmosphere was carefree, and it felt like they were all back in middle school. Everybody was crowded into their dorm room. Sakura. Sasuke. Naruto. Ino. Shikamaru. Everybody sat in a circle playing Uno. A game suggested by Naruto, he pulled out the deck of cards from his desk drawer, held it high in the air, and everybody nodded their head in agreement. Some things never change.

"Did you know Shikamaru?" Sakura asked as she shifted her emerald eyes from the yellow number 3 card on the pile to her hand. She had no yellow cards nor any number three cards. She began drawing.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto. The blonde was giving him a helpless expression. 

"No..." Shikamaru answered dryly. "Then again...Naruto kept avoiding me...so I knew _something_ was up."

Sakura placed a draw two yellow card on the pile. She stuck her tongue out and flashed a peace sign, "Sorry Sasuke!" 

Sasuke leaned over and picked up two cards from the draw pile, dark eyes moving back to the cards in his hand. Strategizing.

"So...when did you know you were gay?" Ino asked. She was wearing glossy pink lipstick and her long blonde hair was wrapped into a ballerina bun on top her head. She was wearing a leather jacket over her school uniform. Her seafoam green eyes kept glancing unconsciously at Shikamaru.

"Uh…" Naruto began as he thought about the answer. 

Ino glanced at Sasuke. A thought occurred and she interrupted, "...was it when you kissed Sasuke in the closet at Kiba's party?"

"What?! Sasuke and I didn't kiss in the closet!" Naruto lied holding his right hand up and waving it back and forth. 

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at Naruto's obvious lie before laying down a plus 4 card saying sharply, "Like I would kiss you usuratonkachi! Draw four...and I'm changing the color to blue."

"What?!" Naruto said as his blue eyes fell to the pile and he begrudgingly began drawing the four cards. 

"Even though I suggested the game...how am I losing by this much?" Naruto exhaled as he held out his hand filled with cards. Naruto gave Sasuke a sideways glance but he turned his attention elsewhere. Sasuke's expression and body language stating he was effectively ignoring Naruto.

It must have been Naruto's imagination but was Sasuke angry that he lied about the kiss? They had kissed twice, sure...and neither time was any of their business. Naruto's eyes shifted to Sasuke's lips, and he nervously bit down on his bottom lip. It didn't matter...the kisses didn't mean anything. It was just practice after all.

"Regardless…" Sakura began as Naruto placed a blue number 1 card down. She looked from Sasuke to Naruto. "You don't have to hide things from us...we're your friends, Naruto."

"Are you dating anyone?" Ino asked as she placed a yellow number 1 card onto the pile. Sakura, Shikamaru, and Sasuke all glanced at Naruto. They all had one name in mind. Naruto shifted nervously under everybody's gazes. 

"Guys...please…It's embarrassing...I'm not dating anybody..."

"Liar," Sakura spoke immediately. All sets of eyes shifted to Sakura causing her to jump in surprise.

"I'm sorry...I just assumed…" she explained and laughed nervously.

"If you assume...it just makes you an ass, Sakura," Ino spoke nonchalantly. 

"Reverse," Shikamaru spoke as he placed a yellow reverse card down, effectively skipping Sakura and moving back to Ino's turn. 

"Yeah...yeah…" Sakura muttered her eyes shifting to Sasuke again. She was picking up on the body language between Naruto and Sasuke. She didn't know why, but it was making her feel uncomfortable. 

"Well do you like-like anybody?" Ino asked as she placed a yellow number 5 card down. Sakura eyes widened and she turned her attention to Ino. Leave it to Ino to ask things so unabashedly. She didn't have a filter and whatever came to her head tumbled out of her mouth.

"Kinda...I mean...how do you know if you really like someone, y'know?" Naruto asked keeping his eyes down and focused on the cards in his hand. He didn't have any yellow cards. Ah he did have a red number 5 card.

"You start thinking ' _I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees'_ " Ino answered her voice faraway and whimsical. 

Naruto placed the red number 5 card on the pile and shifted his attention to Sasuke as Ino spoke. Thinking about her words as he studied Sasuke's profile. 

"Do _you_ like someone, Ino?" Sakura asked changing the focus of conversation. Ino's face turned the color of a beat red tomato. 

"Come on...who is it! Out with it!" Sakura pounced on her prey, claws out, tail swishing. Naruto laughed as Sakura tackled Ino and the two tumbled backwards. 

"Get off me Sakura!" 

Naruto brought his attention back to Sasuke. He was still avoiding Naruto's gaze. Sasuke focused on the cards in his hand. They were sitting so close Naruto could smell Sasuke's shampoo. It smelled of tea tree oil and mint. Refreshing. Naruto looked to the cards Sasuke held in his hand. It was perfectly angled so that Naruto could see the two cards left. Naruto smiled. Knowingly.

"Reverse. Uno," Sasuke said as he caught Naruto staring at his cards, and his eyebrows raised again. ' _Cheater_ ' Sasuke's expression seemed to say as he caught Naruto's eyes. The smile widened unapologetically on Naruto's lips as Sasuke scowled.

Sasuke placed a red reverse card down. It shifted back to Naruto's turn. 

"Hey! That's not fair!" Sakura spoke as she returned to her seat. Once again her turn was skipped. 

"Serves you right!" Ino spoke indignantly as she straightened out her clothes.

Naruto looked at the cards in his hand. And he suddenly wanted Sasuke to win more than anything else. Naruto placed down a green reverse card and it shifted back to Sasuke, effectively skipping Ino's turn.

"Reverse." 

Naruto smiled not moving his eyes from the dark-haired boy besides him. Sasuke looked down at the green reverse card at the top of the pile then back up at Naruto's too blue eyes. Sasuke gave Naruto a look of curiosity. It was a setup for Sasuke to win. Of course. Sasuke smiled and dropped his last card onto the pile. A green number 7 card.

"I win."

"Ah man!" Naruto spoke as he threw the cards in his hand up in the air. Naruto leaned back on his arms. Naruto's fingers brushed up against Sasuke's. 

It happened again. Everyone and everything in the room vanished leaving just Naruto and Sasuke. In the room alone. Sitting side by side. Almost like life should always remain like this. Naruto had nodded his head willfully and started laughing at the inside joke they shared. Sasuke shook his head and joined Naruto's laughter. It was easy being around Naruto. Everything was effortless. Naruto was bright, and warm, and so full of energy it chased away all the darkness, all the sadness, and all the shadows within Sasuke. Leaving him content, satisfied, and...happy.

Yes...it was almost as if life should always remain exactly like this.

*****

Sasuke was unable to get comfortable in bed and he tossed around for a good twenty minutes. He rolled to his side, and stared through the darkness to the outline of his blonde roommate in his own bed. Sasuke's mind was flooded with thoughts of confusing feelings, and screenshots of memories that involved Naruto.

"Naruto...are you awake?" Sasuke asked. He almost wanted the blonde to ignore him. Needing an excuse to not ask the question he desperately wanted to ask and the answer he desperately wanted answered. 

"Yes." Naruto answered. Naruto was laying on his back. Wide awake. Unable to drift off into sleep.

"Why did you lie?" Sasuke asked. 

"Lie...lie about what?" 

Naruto asked curiously his eyes were staring up at the ceiling. Unblinking. He had listened to Sasuke toss and turn for the past twenty minutes fighting the urge to ask him what was wrong...to ask him what was on his mind. Instead he chose to lay there staring at the ceiling.

"...about kissing in the closet at Kiba's closet." 

Sasuke suddenly felt thankful he was shrouded in darkness. It made things easier. Nighttime was made for saying things, asking things, doing things...you couldn't do in the daytime. It was almost magical. Nighttime provided an immunity shield where inhibitions were lowered and a sense of fearlessness took hold.

"Oh." Naruto spoke softly before growing silent. He swallowed. He wasn't sure how to go about answering it...but he tried nonetheless. 

"I didn't want them to get the wrong idea..." Naruto spoke. "Y'know...'sides...it isn't any of their business if we kissed...once or twice...whatever, right?"

"It did happen...right?" Sasuke asked. 

It was then when Naruto sat upright, arms pressed behind him holding his weight. He turned his head towards the darkness of Sasuke's side of the room. 

"Did what happen? Did we really kiss? is that what you're asking, S'ske?"

"Yeah..." Sasuke answered although his voice was unsure. 

"Well...yeah..." Naruto answered his voice full of conviction. "We also kissed in my room...y'know...why are you asking?" 

"...was it then when you realized you were gay?" Sasuke asked and he was met with Naruto nervously laughing. 

"Do you think I thought I was gay when I kissed you?" Naruto asked unable to stop his nervous laughter. The reality was Naruto was so nervous it was a defense mechanism. The whole conversation was leaving him restless and anxious. He didn't want Sasuke to know what he was really thinking about...he didn't want to ruin their friendship.

"Well...not anymore...no..." Sasuke spoke sourly. 

"I think I kinda knew the beginning of ninth grade...and when I met Haku I thought...'Oh...I'm gay.'" 

Sasuke suddenly wanted to end the conversation. There was a bad taste forming in his mouth, and he regretted saying anything.

"He was so comfortable in his sexuality...and I think I realized it then...that...I wasn't really attracted to girls. I think I thought I was supposed to, ya know? I just didn't feel anything with the girls. And when I kissed, Haku...I just...knew." Naruto explained.

Sasuke wanted Naruto to stop talking. Anytime would be good. He felt radiating heat inflame his face as if fire was licking his skin. 

"Sasuke..." Naruto asked sensing Sasuke's sudden quietness. "...are you gay?"

"What?" Sasuke asked more so from shock than for clarification on what Naruto said. Naruto knew so easily it made Sasuke uncomfortable and he felt like he should know already by now if he was or wasn't gay. Panic took hold. He wanted this conversation to end. His chest hurt. 

"I mean...I realized I was when I kissed Haku...I don't know...I mean...if you wanted to kiss me...to ya know...see if you are?"

The first thought that crossed through Sasuke's mind was 'yes'. He did want to kiss Naruto. Only this time it wasn't going to be for practice. He thought about kissing Naruto when he was ten years old, and then the two times they kissed when they were thirteen. Sasuke could still remember feeling Naruto's tongue against his..could still taste Naruto's mouth...and he remembered Naruto kissing him back. Sasuke wrapped a hand around his mouth afraid if he let go he was going to tell Naruto he wanted to kiss him again. He was afraid. 

"No! Go to bed usuratonkachi!" Sasuke blurted out. He was flustered and rolled over so that his back was facing Naruto. 

Naruto stared through the darkness at Sasuke's outline wishing he could see the expression the other boy was wearing. Because what Naruto was hoping he was wearing...was just wishful thinking. Naruto sighed whisperng, "Whatever you say...S'ske." 

Naruto lowered himself back to his bed and rolled over to his side so that his back was facing Sasuke, mirroring him. 

"Goodnight..." Naruto spoke softly. "...Sasuke."


	16. The Kids Aren't Alright

# The Kids Aren't Alright

 

Sakura felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. A shudder went down her spine. She spun around 180 degrees, emerald eyes flickering from person to person searching for the culprit. Eyes searching for any signs of guilt or culpability of the faces in the crowd. She felt it...eyes staring at her. She felt it before. Somebody was most definitely watching her. No, it was paramount somebody was stalking her. And she was going to catch them in the act, and expose them.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked noticing she was no longer walking besides him. He spun around to see Sakura standing perfectly still. They were on their way to their English class. Transitioning between buildings out in the courtyard. The lunch hour had just ended.

"You...oh...kay?" Naruto asked slowly. He followed Sakura's eyes, looking through the crowd behind them, but he didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Other students were walking past on either side of them, while they remained standing unmoving in the middle of the courtyard; parting the seas. 

"Sakura?"

"Somebody's following me…" Sakura spoke hoarsely, she spun back around, grabbed Naruto's hand, and pulled him along with her. She quickened her pace moving from casually walking to a brisk canter.

Both were dressed warmly in jackets, hats, scarves, and mittens. It was lightly snowing and their breath was visible when they spoke. January was a bitter, cold, and dark month.

"What? Who?" Naruto asked disbelieving as he looked over his shoulder, back at the other students who were filtering from the mess hall and dormitories.

"Don't look...stupid!" Sakura barked. She began maneuvering through the crowd tightening her hold on Naruto. If they weren't wearing mittens her nails would have been embedded in Naruto's flesh.

Sakura entered their classroom, and only released her monstrous hold on Naruto when she reached her desk. Sasuke was already seated and prepared for their lesson, his copy of _The Great Gatsby_ , composition notebook, and pen all placed neatly and orderly on top his desk.

Sasuke's dark eyes focused in on Sakura holding onto Naruto's hand. He continued to watch until Sakura let go. She collapsed into her chair. As soon as the contact between them was broken Sasuke looked away. Relieved.

"Are you going to tell me anything else...like who is it?" Naruto asked. He placed his school bag on his desk. He didn’t bother to prepare for class. He sat sideways in his chair, body angled towards Sasuke and Sakura. He began pulling his winter gear off. Sasuke's eyes found themselves watching Naruto as he peeled the extra layers off.

"If I knew…then I would have confronted them already!" Sakura hissed, and began pulling out the required class material from her own identical school bag. 

Naruto leaned towards Sasuke explaining, "...Sakura _thinks_ somebody is following her."

"Ah. I see." 

Sasuke gave a verbal response accompanied with a nod of his head. He had completely understood the conversation, and hand holding that occurred up to this point. Sasuke looked at Naruto's uniform. His shirt was untucked, his tie was loose, and his sweater wrinkled. The only positive was his uniform was clean. Sasuke wondered how his sweater became so wrinkled when they had both picked up their uniforms from the dryer cleaners last night. 

"I don't _think_...I _know_ somebody is stalking me! If you were a real friend you'd believe me! Asshole."

"...so now it's being upgraded to stalking?" Naruto spoke with a teasing smile. The blonde caught Sasuke's eyes and laughed. Sasuke watched hypnotized as Naruto's blue eyes filled with mischievous delight. 

Naruto continued with a wave of his hand, "...maybe it's a secret admirer."

"One more word and you're uninvited this Friday night, Naruto!"

"Uh...what's happening Friday night?"

"You know...for the premiere of the new Wes Anderson movie," Sakura said turning around to stare at Naruto. There was no recognition on Naruto's behalf, and he stared blankly back.

"Since...when was I invited?" Naruto asked and he yawned loudly propping his head up on the desk with his hand. 

"The night we all played Uno in your room..." Sakura reminded, not bothering to hide her irritation with Naruto. Naruto recalled Ino mentioning something like that during their Uno game. Honestly, Naruto was much too distracted by Sasuke to pay much attention to the rest of them. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Naruto already had plans to meet Haku at the Twin Leaves Hotel. Room 3707. 

"Tell him Sasuke!" 

Sakura spun her body to look at Sasuke, and he shrugged apprehensively. It wasn’t the response Sakura wanted.

"Ino has movie premiere tickets for us...she's invited all of us this Friday...and you better go! You've been spending all your weekends with Haku and you're neglecting us!" Sakura demanded pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Oh...this Friday…mhm..." Naruto stated with his voice dropping. 

Naruto began shifting his attention away going as far as to move his body so it was positioned straightforward instead of angled. Sasuke turned his attention back to the blonde recognizing the complete change in personality and demeanor. Worry took hold of Sasuke like a carnivorous dog gnawing on his insides. Sakura was right. Naruto spent Friday nights and Saturday nights with Haku and slept all day Sundays. There was a better change of seeing a blue moon than it was seeing Naruto on the weekends. 

"Do you have other plans?" Sasuke asked. Of course he does.

"Yeah...sorta…maybe...I don't know..." 

It wasn't a clear nor concise answer. Sloppily. Unsatisfying. It was an answer Sasuke refused to accept. Naruto felt his cell phone through the pocket of his school bag thinking back to Haku. Naruto trailed his fingers around the outline of his cell phone. Naruto debated on what the repercussions would be if he cancelled Friday night with Haku. There was still Saturday night. One day going to room 3707 was better than not going at all.

"Cancel them," Sasuke spoke in his deadpan matter-of-fact voice, "You've already made a commit with us." 

Naruto's mind distorted what Sasuke was saying, and he comprehended Sasuke saying, ' _You've already made a commit with me!_ ' Naruto felt his heart skip a beat. He felt hot and uncomfortable. Naruto looked at Sakura's expression, she looked pained, her eyebrows furrowed upwards. The frown lines ran deep on her forehead and between her eyebrows. It looked almost as if she was on the verge of crying. Naruto couldn't stand seeing that expression on her face so he turned his attention to Sasuke.

It wasn't any better...in fact it was worse.

Sasuke's expression was more subtle...less in your face...but Naruto sensed it on a deeper level. Invisible fingers wrapped themselves around his heart and wrapped themselves around Naruto's lungs; squeezing. Naruto's breath caught in his throat and he swore his heartbeat stopped momentarily, before starting back up with an electric shock.

Naruto wanted to go with Sasuke...wanted to spend his Friday night with Sasuke. 

Naruto attempted to count how many weekends its been since he went to the Twin Leaves Hotel. Room 3707. He was losing count. One night he didn't go should be fine. It was cowardly, but Naruto wanted to just pretend Haku didn't exist for a few more days...and decided he would ignore Haku until Saturday. If Naruto didn't go one night...it should be fine. Haku would be fine. Naruto would be fine. 

"Okay. This Friday...I'll be there." Naruto smiled brightly and Sasuke was taken aback. He wasn't actually expecting Naruto to become so agreeable so quickly. Sakura's face broke out into a sincere smile filled with relief and excitement.

"Perfect...it's settled then," Sasuke answered turning his attention towards Kakashi who entered the classroom.

*****

_Friday_

Naruto stood in front of the mirror that was on the back of Sasuke's closet door. Examining himself. His face twisting up into indecision. Naruto was wearing a black v-neck polyester shirt, and around his neck hung a crystal necklace. He wore black form-fitting pants, with a flashy belt fastened around his waist with gold double G's on the belt buckle. Naruto was staring at his reflection not recognizing who was staring back. 

"...are you almost done princess?" Sasuke asked sardonically. Sasuke was sitting on his bed arms behind him holding his weight, head tilted back, eyes focused on the ceiling.

"Do...I look different, S'ske?" Naruto asked, ignoring Sasuke's sarcastic remark. He suddenly felt self-conscious.

The boy in the reflection must have been him because he knew about mirrors and reflections. It just didn't feel real. Sunshine blonde hair, baby blue eyes. On the surface it looked like him...just looked older...just more tired. Naruto knew the reflection in the mirror was him but he felt like he was staring at a stranger. He didn't like this feeling. He didn't want to look at himself anymore so he turned away. 

"Hmm? Different how?" Sasuke asked as he turned his attention to Naruto. 

Naruto was different from the boy in elementary and middle school. Something was eclipsing the light in his eyes...no not something...someone. Sasuke didn't know why he harbored a hatred for Haku when he never even met him, and he was too embarrassed to even bring up his name in conversation with Naruto. The only thing Sasuke was able to get out of Naruto was that he and Haku were ' _seeing each other_ ' on the weekends but it wasn't anything ' _serious_ ' and they weren't officially ' _dating._ ' 

"It's nothing…I'm just feeling...self-conscious…" Naruto concluded. He was only sixteen. He wasn't bursting with confidence and self-respect. 

"You look great...Naruto," Sasuke spoke softly. Naruto felt instant relief.

Naruto put his orange bomber jacket on a small smile on his lips. Naruto glanced at Sasuke. The other boy was wearing an oversized black turtleneck, and black pants. Naruto only chose to wear black on black because Sasuke was wearing all black and he wanted to complement him.

"Ready?" Naruto asked and Sasuke pushed himself into a standing position.

*****

"Naruto! You're looking really good tonight! We complement each other! We could almost be twins!" 

Ino spoke as she pulled Naruto into a tight embrace. Ino was wearing a black dress, black tights, black heels, and her black leather jacket. The only color she wore was bright red lipstick. Naruto hugged Ino back. ' _No_ ', Naruto thought, ' _I want to complement Sasuke._ '

They were in the lobby of the Landmark Theater. It was the oldest theater in Konoha and was decorated in scarlet, gold, and rococo fashion. It was a historic landmark said to be one of the only remaining buildings left standing during the last great war. When everything else was destroyed the theater remained, and since has been a hub of Hollywood movie premieres. 

They were all assembling one by one. Haruno Sakura. Yamanaka Ino. Nara Shikamaru. Uchiha Sasuke. Uzumaki Naruto. Rock Lee. Akimichi Choji. Hyuga Hinata. Hugs and warm greetings erupted all around them in a class reunion. Everybody was dressed to the nines. Everybody looked older, more mature. They were different from how they were in middle school when they were all awkward, lanky, messes.

It was all so bittersweet. Naruto wanted to return to those days. 

Naruto could feel his cell phone vibrating in his pocket, he nervously pulled it out. It sent electrical currents up and down his spine. Haku's name flashed on the screen. Sasuke was standing alongside him, and he peered at Naruto's cell phone. Before Sasuke could say anything he watched as Naruto rejected the call, stuffing the cell phone back into his coat jacket. There was a look of nervousness on Naruto's face. It was the evidence Sasuke needed on why he didn't like Haku. If their relationship was normal, healthy, then Naruto wouldn't be making such an expression. 

Sasuke looked to see Shikamaru was staring hard at Naruto. Shikamaru's expression was inquisitive as if he too was aware of who was calling Naruto. It wasn't a secret to Shikamaru. They exchanged glances, holding each other's gazes, both reading the other expertly. Sasuke realized that Shikamaru knew more about Naruto's relationship with Haku than he was letting on. Knew more than Sasuke, and probably knew more than Sakura.

Shikamaru, having been found out, turned around and immersed himself in conversation with Choji and Lee.

"NARUTO!" A loud and energetic voice broke through the chatter of conversation, and suddenly a brunette blur was swinging an arm around Naruto's neck and placing his weight onto the blonde. It caused Naruto to almost lose his balance.

"KIBA!" Naruto exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around Kiba to steady them both. Kiba's free hand moved to ruffle Naruto's hair exclaiming loudly, "If you didn't show tonight I told Ino I was going to march right into your dorm and kick your ass ya bastard! Tell me...ya still shit at soccer, and girls?"

Kiba obviously not aware of Naruto's sexuality but at the end of the night would have been filled in...and just like Sasuke predicted he accepted him. 

Naruto threw his head back and laughed. It was the laugh that had drawn everyone to him. Naruto's easy going personality, his energetic nature, and his natural good heart caused people to stay by his side. Naruto attracted people like moths to light. Some things never changed. They all flickered their eyes towards Naruto as he laughed. Sasuke was being drawn to him more and more.

"Do ya have a girlfriend yet, Kiba?" Naruto asked after he stopped laughing. Kiba pushed Naruto's face away mumbling, "Why ya gotta be such a killjoy Naruto?"

"I mean...aren't you the expert on girls and liquor, Kiba?" Sasuke contributed as he folded his arms. Kiba slid away from Naruto, in a dramatic gesture, throwing his hands up above his head, "Alright...alright...can we not tag team me right now? Just so happens...I may be swooning a few girls as we speak..." Kiba placed both hands on his jacket and straightened it out.

Ino grabbed both of Kiba's shoulders from behind, before wrapping her arms around his neck, and whispered in a dark sadistic tone, "You better not be two-timing me Kiba. I can give you a vasectomy free of charge if you are. Friends and family discount."

Kiba threw up both hands in a plead, "Ino...Ino! Ya know you'll always be my favorite gal...I mean you were my first kiss!"

"She was mine too," Sakura interrupted as she stuck her tongue out and flashed the peace sign, "I guess that makes us rivals."

Sakura's hair was curled and she was dressed in a long sleeved velvet dress, a plush white faux fur jacket, and golden pumps. Naruto thought she looked beautiful. Naruto watched as Sakura's eyes kept trailing to Sasuke, and his breath caught in his throat. Oh...Naruto remembered...Sakura was in love with Sasuke and has been in love since Kindergarten. Naruto swallowed hard his heart fluttering and turned his attention away from Sakura. It hurt him too much to watch her...because she had something Naruto would never have. 

Ino moved her body away from Kiba and slipped her arm through Naruto pulling him close to her her palm moving up Naruto's chest, "I wasn't the only one who kissed two people that night 'ay Naruto? Blondes do have more fun! 'Em I right...Sasuke, Hinata?"

She blew them a kiss. Naruto brought his attention to Sasuke wanting to see what expression he would make.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows and snorted, "Hn. Like I would kiss that usuratonkachi." A mischievous smile spread his lips as he caught Naruto's attention. 

"Huh?" Hinata spoke her face turning the color of a squashed tomato. Naruto and Hinata exchanged glances and suddenly Naruto's face turned an equal shade of a roma tomato.

"Hi...Hinata…" Naruto spoke and Hinata bowed stuttering, "H-h-ello...N-n-aruto!" Naruto recalled the conversation they shared in Kiba's closet and looked away embarrassed.

Ino waved the series of tickets out like a fan, "Let's go find our seats, ya'll!"

*****

Naruto was seated between Sasuke and Hinata. He peeked and saw Sakura had chosen to sit on the other side of Sasuke. The way Sakura was looking at Sasuke caused Naruto to immediately turn away. Naruto recalled the conversation with Sakura where he told her that Sasuke was a late bloomer, and in a year would be interested in dating. It was bound to happen. Sasuke and Sakura knew each other since Kindergarten...they were bound to date each other...it was bound to happen. 

Naruto was suddenly overcome with guilt. 

The perverse thoughts he had of Sasuke, the feelings of wanting to touch him, to kiss him, to crawl into bed with him. It was wrong. It was all one-sided. Sick. Sasuke wasn't gay. Just wishful thinking. He felt nauseous. Felt corrupt. Naruto ran his fingers through his hair and instinctively moved his body away from Sasuke and leaned towards Hinata. Turning his back towards Sasuke. Being around him too long began to leave him physically exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed.

"How have you been, Naruto?" Hinata asked softly and Naruto had to strain his ears to hear her, but was relieved for the distraction nonetheless.

"I've been managing…getting use to the harder course material. It's way harder stuff than public school, but I think I can manage." Naruto spoke his voice dropping to match Hinata's and he leaned closer to her. Hinata let her hair grow longer, and it reached her waist. Her skin was just as creamy and blemish free as Sasuke's. But her eyes were the exact opposite of Sasuke's. Pale and clear. 

Naruto pictured an alternate universe. One where he was straight, and one where he was dating Hinata.

"I'm glad…" Hinata spoke with a sigh of relief, and it was then when she leaned in closer, cupped Naruto's ear, and whispered into it. Naruto's face turned bright red again and he pulled away laughing nervously.

"Thank you...Hinata…" Naruto spoke. 

Naruto continued to stare at Hinata's long silky hair, the color of cafe noir, the color of black coffee. It resembled Sasuke's hair, only longer, and unconsciously he reached his fingers out and gently held a lock of Hinata's hair bringing the lock to his face and smelling it. It smelled of Aragon oil. Naruto wondered what it would be like to kiss Hinata. Would her lips feel different than Haku's? Would he feel different if he kissed Hinata? 

"N-n-Naruto?" Hinata shuttered causing him to snap back into consciousness. Naruto blinked and noticed that Hinata's face had taken on a deeper, darker, shade of red. He immediately let go of her hair and held up his hands, "I'm so sorry...sorry!"

' _What am I doing?_ ' Naruto thought. 

Naruto felt panicky. He felt claustrophobic. Felt like he couldn't breath. His lungs were not working properly. He needed air. He felt his palms becoming sweaty. He felt his skin becoming clammy. He felt like escaping. He needed fresh air. And he needed it now.

"Excuse me...gotta take a leak before the movie starts." 

Naruto apologized as he stood up quickly moving towards the exit. Naruto chose to exit the row on Hinata's side so he could continue to avoid Sasuke. His heart felt weak tonight. As if any minute he would experience heart failure.

*****

Naruto splashed his face with water. He felt safe in the bathroom, and he forced air back into his lungs. His vision was clearing, and his mind was clearing, and his heart was returning to homeostasis. His heart becoming stronger the further away from Sasuke he got.

"Yo. Feral child." 

A familiar voice came from behind, Naruto caught the reflection of the man in the mirror, before turning around, coming face to face with the smirking Uchiha Shisui. Fuck.

The older man was dressed in a form fitting grey tweed suit with black suspenders. The man's smoldering eyes looked Naruto up and down, and focused on the droplets of water that rolled down his face. 

"So glad to see you well."

Naruto ignored him and reached for a white paper towel that was folded into a fan on the granite counter top. 

"I have a proposition for you..." Shisui spoke as he swung an arm around the blonde who was patting his face dry. The blonde seized up hoping if he stopped breathing, stopped moving, shrank himself small the predator would leave. Like with bears. It didn't work.

"...take a look at these photos I have acquired mysteriously and through no illegal means what's so ever," Shisui continued as he handed Naruto the XL smart phone that had a series of incriminating, highly illegal, and borderline child pornography photos on them. Naruto swiped right on the photos, and they didn't seem to end. Photos of Naruto. Photos of Haku. Photos of them inside the Twin Leaves penthouse suite. Photos of them in room 3707. 

"You..." Naruto seethed through gritted teeth.

"Now that I have your attention...let's talk."


	17. Bad Kid

# Bad Kid

 

"You piece of shit!" 

Naruto growled and he threw the phone with all his strength against the bathroom floor. He attempted to shove Shisui away. The other man was instantaneous and precise with his movements. He grabbed hold of Naruto's wrist, spun him around, and slammed him up against the wall. Twisting his arm behind his back and smashing his face against the wall. All within a manner of seconds. Naruto's cheek pressed hard against the honeycomb porcelain tiled wall. He tasted blood in his mouth as he inadvertently bit his tongue. 

Inhaling and exhaling violently. 

"You should have kept with the taijutsu lessons, feral child," Shisui spoke with a smile, "Maybe then it would have been a fair fight. Otherwise it's just me bullying a child...and people frown upon that..."

Shisui released Naruto and bent down to retrieve his cell phone. Holding it up he examined it with a smirk, "You know these otterbox cases really are durable...look not even a scratch!" Shisui held out his intact smartphone, his smile growing larger revealing perfectly aligned white teeth.

Naruto turned around, his entire body began to shake, his mind filling with FM radio static. Panic was driving his movements like a cornered, wounded, animal.

"What do you want from me?" Naruto asked desperately his voice cracking, his eyes filling with dread, eyebrows furrowing together. He moved his body from side to side, and was unable to stare directly at Shisui.

"Are you prostituting at the Twin Leaves Hotel?"

"Yes...fucking why else did you show me those photos?"

"I'm going to want you to keep prostituting. I'll give it to you straight. You see...you're the only person I know who can get close to Momochi Zabuza, and the only one I know who has everything to lose. Close enough for him to let his guard down. I'm going to need you to get real close and personal...so close that he'll introduce you to another client, Biwa Juzo."

"What did you say…?" Naruto asked his eyes growing wide, his pupils constricting to pinpricks, his breath becoming shallow and sharp. Naruto was shutting down sense by sense, slowly until he was fading away into nothingness.

"You're doing it anyways...how many times has it been? The only difference is now you're going to help me to arrest and put away Zabuza. And if you don't...these pictures will be revealed to the public, and you'll be arrested and charged with prostitution. I wonder what your friends will think...I wonder what your father will think. Think of it as a win-win situation. We arrest and lock up Zabuza and in turn I'll keep your secret."

Naruto stumbled backwards, shaking his head violently from side to side, his spine pressing up against the bathroom wall and he couldn't move back any further, and he found himself sliding down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. Legs up to his chest, arms lay limp and useless at his sides. A coldness took hold of him as if he had fallen through ice and was drowning in the depths of a lake, trapped beneath ice and unable to breakthrough. His vision was blurring and darkening around the edges. 

No! No! No!

Tunnel vision. His entire world spun around and around as if being sucked into the eye of a tornado. Images, and words, and sounds swirling around and around into a glorious mess, and he was being ripped apart molecule by molecule.

"The Yondaime is a very important figure in Konoha...and it is my duty to protect him and what he stands for. I will not let Konoha plunge into chaos. I will not allow another great war to erupt. Even if it means using his son to do something as profoundly immoral and wicked as what I am asking you to do. I know you have a sense of justice."

Shisui kneeled down and faced Naruto he brought both hands to either side of his face. Holding onto Naruto's face, turning his head so he had a better angle of it. He was speaking softly and he rubbed Naruto's cheeks with his thumb in a soothing manner. 

"You wouldn't want Sasuke to find out what you have been doing...right? I've been watching you, Naruto...the way you look at Sasuke, he's your best friend...and you wouldn't want him to see you in another light...now would you? No...no you wouldn't." 

Shisui then moved Naruto's head from side to side. He pulled Naruto towards him enveloping him into a hug, wrapping his arms around Naruto, he whispered into his ear.

"I promise you...if you do exactly as I say your secret will be safe with me…and Zabuza will be locked up." 

Shisui's hands went to the back of Naruto's head, and his other went to rub his spine. Shisui moved his fingers up and down his spinal cord feeling the vertebrae through his thin shirt. Naruto was thinner and more slender than he realized.

"When it's all done...I'll make sure to send you to the finest rehabilitation center. So...come on...tell me you'll do it." 

Shisui's breath was hot against his ear. Naruto felt trapped, and he couldn't fight back, and instead allowed himself to be devoured by the predator. Ripped apart limb by limb. Until Shisui was satisfied. There was no choice. It was an illusion of choice. Naruto was put in front of two doors, and both doors lead to the same slaughter house.

*****

"What are you doing here?" 

Sasuke asked his voice bewildered and muddled trying to comprehend why his elder brother was at the Landmark Theater, because it wasn't to see the premiere of the new Wes Anderson movie. 

Itachi was dressed head to toe in the Uchiha police uniform. White, button up t-shirt, black tie, black shoulder holster with his Smith and Wesson handgun secured under his left arm, black pants, black spit-shined shoes, and a police hat with the Uchiha police emblem fashioned in the middle. Itachi was positioned outside the bathroom door. The sign 'gentlemen' stenciled across the mahogany wood next to Itachi's head.

"Good evening, Sasuke." Itachi answered with a curt nod of the head. "I'm here on official police business. I think you should return to your seat. The bathroom is currently closed." 

Itachi held out his hand as Sasuke moved to enter the bathroom; blocking his way.

The last time Sasuke saw his brother was on Christmas Day. Despite Itachi being a foot away from him, it made no difference, it still felt like he was miles away. Expressionless, stoic, and unreadable. Sasuke recalled their last meeting, father was going on a tangent about how Itachi needed to take charge and become more personable to the public. Fugaku wanting nothing more than to groom Itachi to become the next Police Commissioner. Sasuke didn't understand why he desired it. Fugaku was still pulling the strings of the police force from the shadows. So why did it even matter?

"I'm looking for a friend." Sasuke spoke his eyes narrowing as he stared back at Itachi. There was something unsettling about seeing Itachi here. "...and something tells me...he's on the other side of this door."

"You're very perceptive, father would be proud." Itachi answered straight-faced. Itachi's eyes stared back at Sasuke almost daring Sasuke to try and open the door. Sasuke took the dare.

"Let me through," Sasuke demanded as he moved his left hand towards the doorknob, but before he even reached the doorknob the door was being swung open.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom. Shisui appeared behind Naruto with an elated, "Oh!" 

Sasuke looked at all three of them before asking, "What are you guys doing here?"

Deadpan. Elated. Nervousness. Deadpan. Elated. The expressions on each of their faces were all over the place. 

"I was delivering a message from the Yondaime to Naruto...you wouldn't believe how difficult Naruto is being...if he just went home every now and then I wouldn't have to go to such extreme measures to pass a message to him," Shisui spoke as he stepped between Naruto and Sasuke, blocking Naruto entirely from Sasuke's sight.

"No," Sasuke clarified as his eyes narrowed into slits at the sight of Shisui and Itachi together, "What are you two doing here? As far as I know you're a filthy traitor...Shisui..."

Shisui turned his head to the side his sophisticated smile spreading to reveal his perfectly aligned teeth; leaning in he began speaking softly and evenly, "If we're talking about traitors, Sasuke...why are you cozying up to the Yondaime's son?" Shisui placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, and leaned in, whispering into his ear, "You and I aren't so different are we...?"

Sasuke seized up, his fingers folding into fists.

"As far as I am aware...Fugaku assigned him to trail me…" Shisui spoke nonchalantly glancing back at Itachi momentarily, withdrawing from Sasuke, and with a shrug of his shoulders, "My business here is complete. Naruto I'll be in touch. I hope you have a lovely evening, Sasuke." With those words Shisui spun on his heels and walked away.

Naruto's face broke out into a nervous smile, his hands going behind his head, "My old man is being a drag...sorry Sasuke." 

It was then when Naruto noticed Itachi and his breath caught in his throat. He looked Itachi up and down with icy blue eyes, noticing he was dressed in the Uchiha police uniform. Fucking hypocrite. It _was_ the same person he met in the alleyway behind the consignment shop. There was no mistake. He was absolu-fucking-tely sure.

Itachi turned his body towards Naruto and bowed, "It is a pleasure meeting the Yondaime's son."

' _You fucking liar._ ' Naruto thought bitterly his face twisting into abhorrence. Sasuke noticed this instantly and kept looking from Itachi to Naruto. 

Naruto was beginning to understand the games the adults played on a daily basis. Naruto noticed the glimmer of recognition in Itachi's eyes. Naruto began to think about his father. Minato who publicly spoke out against the Uchiha Police, and the corruption the force bred. He was beginning to see what his father had seen all along. It felt as if he had finally woken up.

"Naruto...are you okay?" Sasuke asked finally. He picked up on Naruto's tension and abhorrence directed at Itachi, and Sasuke glared back at his older brother. 

Naruto erupted in anger, "Christsakes! I can only handle one Uchiha at a time...now I have to deal with three of you! Out of my way." He stormed off bumping into Sasuke's shoulder as he left. If Naruto saw another Uchiha he was going to start seeing red and would come out swinging.

*****

"NARUTO!" 

"Hm?"

"What did you think of the movie?" 

"The cinematography was...good…"

"Let's go up to the VIP room...they have wine…" Ino spoke her face filling Naruto's view. Naruto barely remembered how he returned to his seat in the movie theater let alone what was even happening in the actual movie. He didn't remember anything. "I'm...kinda...tired…" Naruto spoke as he started to back away.

"No!" Ino whined as she thread her arm with his, "You can't leave so early...the tickets included the after party...so come on...it's Friday night! Besides us blondes need to stick together."

The rest of the night happened in a blur. Naruto had taken a few tabs of Callisto in the bathroom before joining his classmates in the VIP room located on the second floor. His muscles began to relax, every worry that plagued him evaporated, and a sense of ecstasy slowly filled him working it's way from his stomach outwards in all directions. It filled him like helium, and it felt like any minute he would float away. Felt like at any moment he would float up-up and away into space...into oblivion. Maybe that's what he was aiming for. He was aiming for oblivion.

Naruto found himself sitting in a plush chair directly in front of Hinata. A flute of champagne in his delicate hands. Naruto's other hand had curled around his jawline, his arm propping up his head, and a smile spread his lips. There was electronica music playing, new wave music, with the snare drum keeping tempo. Naruto felt it especially in his rib cage. The beat replaced his heart. 

"Hinata...did you really mean it...what you said to me?" Naruto asked. The events that lead up to this was a blur. Naruto was gaining consciousness, although it was blurry, and parts were missing. Hinata's hair cascaded around her slender shoulders, her eyes shifted side to side, but she slowly nodded her head yes.

"...would you mind if I kissed you?" Naruto asked. It was a test. Even so...Naruto knew what would happen. Hinata wouldn't refuse. It was manipulation. Naruto looked to the adults in his life who were experts at manipulation and fore-fronting everything were the Uchiha's. Naruto wanted to beat them...to beat Shisui at his own game...needed practice. It's just practice. Manipulation needed time and practice. 

Naruto needed to be able to have some resemblance of control in his life. He knew he was being a selfish, bratty, child...but still...he needed control. Needed to exert control over something...anything in his life.

Hinata slowly nodded her head up and down. Naruto placed the champagne flute onto the table, cupped Hinata's face with his hand, and leaned in, closing the gap between them, pressing his lips to Hinata's. She tilted her head for a better angle, and strengthened the kiss. And it was different. Everything about the kiss was different with Hinata than it was with Haku.

There was passion on Hinata's end...desire...emotion. There was no ulterior motive. It was innocent. It was simple. Pure. Her lips were softer, plumper, and nude. Hinata was delicate, like a flower, if he held on too hard, too long, she would wilt, and fade away. Hinata began to bloom, and her mouth opened. Naruto's tongue explored her mouth. She tasted like candy, tasted like champagne. Tasted like a girl. Felt like a girl. Smelled like a girl.

It felt wrong. Naruto felt dirty. He was acting like a predator. No different than Zabuza. 

He was only using Hinata...preying on her desire for him...there were no real emotions on Naruto's end, and he pulled away. Feeling empty. The bass music continued it's beat sending wavelengths through his chest, vibrating through his blood stream, vibrating through his molecules. Amplifying his heartbeat. Energizing him. Forcing him to come to his senses. He was coming down from Callisto. 

"I'm sorry...Hinata…" Naruto whispered. Naruto felt absolutely nothing and it only solidified his sexuality.

"It's...okay!" Hinata spoke forcefully. "Thank you, Naruto! For...everything..." Naruto smiled weakly before bowing his head. He moved from the plush chair and into the crowd. Disappearing. He couldn't face Hinata right now. 

"Naruto!" Sasuke's voice sent shock-waves through Naruto's body. He turned towards the raven haired boy who appeared behind him. Sasuke wearing black on black on black. Naruto who wanted to complement Sasuke.

"...why did you kiss Hinata?" Sasuke demanded. There was an accusatory anger in his voice. 

He looked into Sasuke's eyes puzzled. ' _Why do you even care?_ ' Naruto wondered and maybe he knew the answer all along. But refused to admit it, because it didn't fit Sasuke's image...because even if he knew the answer he wouldn't know how to respond.

"I wanted to make sure I was still gay, turns out, I still am." Naruto answered truthfully. 

Sasuke smiled and scoffed, "Usuratonkachi. I'm headed back. Want to go home?"

"Yeah." Naruto answered offering his own smile.

*****

Naruto was stripping from his clothes and pulling out pajamas from his dresser drawer. Sasuke sat at the edge of his bed watching his blonde roommate carefully. Sasuke had a towel around his neck, and his bathroom caddy on the bed besides him.

"Naruto…" Sasuke spoke. 

"Hmm?" Naruto asked as he began to climb into his flannel pajama pants. 

Sasuke trailed his eyes up Naruto's exposed spine. Trailing up the vertebrae. Eyes examining Naruto's rib cage that indented his tanned skin. Before noticing he was staring too much and shifted his eyes away. Sasuke was going over the scene of Naruto coming out of the bathroom with Shisui. Itachi in front of the bathroom door. Sasuke picked through the conversation with a fine-toothed comb. Itachi's name was never mentioned. Not once when Naruto exited the bathroom. It bothered him. 

"...you never met Itachi before…" Sasuke began. "So...how did you know he was an Uchiha?" 

Naruto was bent over, reaching for the navy blue pajama shirt. He halted. Becoming a statue and cementing his actions. He had made a mistake, and was now going to pay the consequences. Shit.

"What?" Naruto asked feigning stupidity as he pulled the thin material of the shirt over his head. He picked up his dirty clothes and moved them to the hamper.

"Don't act stupid," Sasuke snapped bringing his attention back to Naruto, "...in the beginning of the school year you were asking questions about Itachi...you've met him before tonight...haven't you?" 

The night when Naruto asked Sasuke about Itachi was now making sense to Sasuke. It left a bad taste in his mouth and Sasuke chalked it up to Naruto wanting an excuse to break the ice and speak to him...but there was more to it...the tip of the iceberg, before the ship crashed into it. Naruto turned around to face Sasuke. Naruto's eyes growing smaller as he stared back. 

"...and if I have? What of it?" Naruto's voice was low and his expression darkened. Naruto had a flashback of Kisame grabbing hold of him and holding the barrel of a gun up against his skull. Naruto clearly saw Itachi's face, heard Itachi's words as he calmed Kisame enough to release his hold on him, and felt Itachi's fingers as he exchanged money for Callisto. It wasn't Naruto's place to tell Sasuke that his brother sold him Callisto. He didn't want to open that can of worms. He already had enough he had to deal with. 

"Where did you meet him?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shrugged, "Who knows?"

Sasuke straightened up, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto felt it the words his father spoke about the Uchihas. Itachi who wore the mask of a Uchiha Police Officer and in reality had sold him Callisto in the back alley. Shisui who was an elite member of the Anbu, worked to protect the Yondaime, was pimping Naruto out to the highest bidder. Fugaku who was the face of the police as the Commissioner commanded the police force to mishandle, and dispose of important evidence resulting in all charges against Shimura Danzo being dropped. 

Naruto stared at Sasuke. It was only a matter of time. The Uchiha were cursed. Naruto felt it as if he held his hand over a proverbial fire. The flames licking and inflaming his flesh. The flames destroying the layers of flesh and burning him slowly. Sasuke had already turned against him at the end of their eighth grade year. He would do it again. Given the change...Sasuke would betray him again. Naruto was coming down from Callisto. It left him agitated and short-tempered. 

"It means...that...my father was right about the Uchihas…" Naruto spoke in a low and serious voice. His eyes narrowed into slits of winter blue.

"What did you say?" Sasuke growled as he stood up walking towards Naruto grabbing hold of the thin material of Naruto's pajama shirt and pulling the boy close to him. Naruto scoffed turning his head to the side and continued, "The Uchihas are a bunch of trash that needs to be taken out to the curb-"

Sasuke and punched Naruto in the face throwing his whole strength into the swing. Naruto stumbled to the side catching himself on the chair to his desk with both hands. Naruto spit blood and saliva on the floor and laughed, "...is that the best you've got, Sasuke?" Naruto turned around to face Sasuke.

Sasuke swung again at Naruto but this time Naruto had easily dodged, bending down, and side stepping. Naruto swung his body around and threw a kick into Sasuke's jaw sending the other boy flying backwards. Naruto didn't stop, he spun around again, and kicked Sasuke in the abdomen before swinging a fist into his face. Naruto threw his weight into Sasuke's abdomen tackling him to the ground. He straddled him, and pinned him down. Naruto grabbed hold of Sasuke's shirt, pulled him up towards him, and punched him again across the face. Blood poured violently down Sasuke's nostrils, his lip busted, and his eyes closed as swelling began to take place under busted capillaries.

"Maybe you were right all along, Sasuke. I don't need to be friends with someone who takes after their pathetic father."

Naruto didn't know what had happened next. In seconds he was flipped upside down, the wind knocked out of him, an explosion of pain erupted against his jawline, and soon he was on his back, eyes disoriented, as he stared up at the ceiling. Sasuke held both of his wrists and slammed them against the wooden floorboards, as he straddled Naruto. His weight crushing against his diaphragm.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Sasuke yelled as he tightened his grip on Naruto's wrist. Their faces less than a foot apart.

"I'm saying I don't want to be your friend anymore! Get off me!"

"Naruto..." 

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF ME, UCHIHA TRASH!" Naruto screamed as he began to squirm underneath Sasuke. 

Sasuke released Naruto's wrists only to free himself to punch Naruto with his left hand, splitting the other boy's lip open. Sasuke stood up, grabbed his plush navy blue towel, and grabbed his bathroom caddy. Disappearing into the bathroom. Slamming, and locking the door shut behind him. An unsettling silence filled the room.

Naruto pulled himself up wiping the blood that trailed down from his lip with the back of his hand. It was easier this way. Naruto felt better...felt good about this decision. At least for a little while.


	18. Play Our Little Game

# Play Our Little Game

 

Sasuke stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. The swelling was going down substantially, and he was able to have full function of his left eye again. Despite his left eye being bloodshot with busted capillaries he could see out of it perfectly. Twenty-twenty vision. He resembled an unhinged monster. 

He was in such a hurry to leave the dormitory this morning, to avoid Naruto, he barely had time to brush his hair. Sasuke tried to fix his unkempt hair. To no avail.

Sasuke traced the bruises with his finger tips. Tender and raw. Burnt sienna and mustard yellow blotted in a stain around the left side of his lip, and around his left eye with tints of indigo and mulberry underneath. The colors fading around the uneven edges, before melting back into the creamy complexion of the rest of his face.

The last time Sasuke looked like this was at the end of his eighth grade year. Naruto and Sasuke were suspended for the remainder of the year after their scuffle in the schoolyard. Sasuke recalled his father walking into the kitchen, as Mikoto held a raw steak to his face, and demanded to know if the Hokage's son looked better or worse than Sasuke.

After Sasuke vehemently declared they were no longer friends and irregardless it didn't matter, did Fugaku nod his head approvingly and continued in his cold voice, " _It's better to cut dead weight before it consumes and destroys your life._ " It was decided Sasuke would enroll in Konoha Preparatory Boarding School beginning the fall semester. Another step in the right direction his father concluded before leaving the kitchen.

After his father left the kitchen he was overcome with an incredible desolation that devastated his entire being. It was a heartache that ripped him asunder, filled him internally, and for a moment he felt like he was going to be consumed in darkness and nothingness just like Itachi. In his anger he had agreed to attend Konoha Preparatory School. He was really going to be separated from Naruto. The sun from his life was gone. Obliterated. He felt cold and empty like a detached astronaut left to float across the universe. Alone.

Only when he went to his bedroom and closed his door did he allow that sadness to freely be released, and he began to cry. Smothering his face into his pillow did he have the courage to scream. Knowing fully that his screams would be stifled by the memory foam pillow, and no comfort would come to him. Sasuke knew he couldn't go against what his father dictated. Especially when he wanted Fugaku's approval and recognition. 

There was a black and heavy weight that was placed on his chest after that day. The weight was removed when Naruto returned to his life. Well, for a little while. Today that black and heavy weight returned.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the memory, and shoved himself through the bathroom door and back into the corridor of the Natural Sciences Instructional Hall.

"Sasuke!" a familiar voice shrieked, "W-w-what happened to you? Your face!" 

It was Karin. If Sasuke wasn't consumed in his own thoughts he would have recognized she had been waiting anxiously outside the bathroom for his departure. Instead his thoughts turned to Naruto. The weekend passed with them avoiding and ignoring each other. Their dorm room turning into 1950's Cold War era. Sasuke glanced at Karin before rolling his eyes. He was still angry with Karin for opening up her big mouth and exposing Naruto's sexuality to the entire student body. Fuck. No. He didn't care anymore. Let Naruto be ridiculed and bullied. It didn't bother him none. He was still angry, but didn't know who he was angry at more. The throbbing pain on his face dictated it was Naruto.

"Hi Karin," Sasuke mumbled shifting the strap of his messenger bag so it rested more comfortably on his shoulder.

"I asked what happened to you?" Karin demanded, stepping in front of Sasuke and blocking his path. Her fingers reached out to brush the bruise near Sasuke's lip. He flinched and jerked his head away from her touch. It was still sore and painful. He continued to ignore her still upset that she exposed Naruto's secret to the entire student body. He should write them both off. 

"I saw Naruto's face...did you two get into a fist fight?" Karin asked, her eyes shifting away nervously. 

Sasuke picked up on the high pitched glee in her voice despite her face contorted into concern. Her voice and facial expressions didn't match. He raised his eyebrows suspiciously. Karin was the first person he knew that wasn't automatically drawn to Naruto...and he suddenly speculated if she had some mental illness manifesting.

"Hn." 

Sasuke exasperated as he sidestepped the redhead and began walking down the corridor towards his first class.

"Did...did he...did he make a move on you? Is that why you hit him?" Karin asked her voice both frightful and hopeful. She increased her speed to match Sasuke's. 

"What? No!" Sasuke spoke irritably. Karin sighed in relief.

"Then-"

"Karin," Sasuke spoke before halting causing Karin to suck in her breath. "You're annoying. Leave me alone." He spoke between gritted teeth. Karin stopped in her tracks. Her mouth moving into the perfect shape of an 'o'. Her eyes wide with shock and appall. Sasuke walked away ignoring her completely.

He entered his English class late. The whole day he had been distracted and fifteen minutes behind schedule. Sasuke's eyes immediately narrowed on an unfamiliar boy sitting in Naruto's assigned seat. He began looking around the classroom, as things were out of sorts. For a fraction of a second he thought he might have been dreaming.

He wasn't.

Sasuke spotted Naruto sitting in the middle of the second row. He expected Naruto to cut class, or at the least expected Naruto to be sullen and downtrodden...but...he was laughing. Sasuke's eyes widened as he concentrated on what Naruto was doing. Naruto was engrossed in conversation with the students around him. Sasuke immediately began to scowl. His bad mood worsening with each passing second. The only satisfaction Sasuke had was Naruto's bruised blotched face mirrored his own.

Sasuke's feet carried him to his seat. He began pulling out the supplies from his messenger bag. His eyes unable to pull away from Naruto. Book. Notebook. Pen. His movements robotic. Preprogrammed. The blonde's features were animated, he had a carefree smile, and his eyes were clear and bright. He was acting as if nothing had happened. He was unaffected. 

There were feelings unresolved. Questions unanswered. Sasuke wanted to know what Shisui said to Naruto to make him act this way, and why Itachi was at the Landmark Theater seemingly working with, or maybe against, Shisui.

"Sasuke…what...is going on?" Sakura asked desperately as she returned to the classroom. "Naruto told me he was transferred out of our group, and changed seats...what the hell happened between you two?!"

"Hi I'm Brian. Looks like I'm part of your group. Please take care of-," the unknown brunette whose ears and nose were too big and didn't quite fit the rest of his face began to say cheerfully.

"You're not one of us!" Sakura snapped viciously at the stranger, turning her attention back to Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't have time to answer as Kakashi had entered the classroom and began class. Sasuke's eyes immediately moved to Kakashi. Certainly the professor would notice what Naruto was doing and would revert his escapades, and assign Naruto back to his group. Back to his assigned seat, next to Sasuke, kitty-corner from Sakura.

Not only did Kakashi notice Naruto, but he called on Naruto to answer the first question, which the bastard answered perfectly. Sasuke gritted his teeth in irritation. He didn't think his mood could get any worse. It could.

"Naruto...How long has Gatsby been pursuing Daisy for?" Kakashi asked immediately. He set his leather bag on the desk and pulled out his very old, and faded copy of _The Great Gatsby_. No hello, no how are you doing. Just straight into the lecture. 

Naruto straightened up in his seat and answered nonchalantly, "Reading the newspaper and clipping articles for oh...five years...a stalker if you ask me…" His response caused several laughs to erupt.

Kakashi knew, and didn't care...no...Kakashi was aware and approved of it. 

After class Sasuke grabbed his supplies and shoved it haphazardly into his bag as Sakura turned around, "Sasuke...so what's-"

"-not now Sakura!" Sasuke snapped coldly before turning and leaving the classroom.

Sakura continued following Sasuke and reached out grabbing hold of his arm with her monstrous strength and saying indignantly, "Hey! Just because you and Naruto are quarreling doesn't mean you have the right to take your anger out on everybody else. So knock it off!"

Pause. Pause. Pause.

"I think it has to do with Haku," Sakura continued after she subdued Sasuke. "I'm going to confront him...do you want to come with me?"

"No! I'm done with Naruto. If he wants to be strung out on Callisto and run his life into the goddamn mud let him. Because I'm done!" Sasuke answered angrily. He wasn't subdued for long just momentarily stunned by Sakura's strength, persistence, and will.

Sasuke easily pulled himself from her grasp and held out both hands up into the air emphasizing as he began backing up, "Do it on your own...because...I'm done." Sasuke spun around and continued walking away. This time Sakura did not chase after him.

*****

"Dude...'da fuck happen to your face?" Suigetsu asked with a mouthful of udon noodles, his violet hues giving Sasuke a once over.

They were seated at one of the tables in the mess hall at peak dinner hour. It was loud and crowded, and Sasuke immediately regretted coming. Sasuke brought the udon noodles up to his mouth with the disposable chopsticks. As if on cue his smaller intestines made a loud growling sound indicting it was empty and he needed sustenance. Oh that's why, because he couldn't remember the last time he ate. He was too stressed. 

Karin placed her tray down and sat next to Sasuke her crimson eyes filled with worry, she scanned Sasuke's face. She turned her attention across the table to Suigetsu angrily declaring, "It was Naruto!" She spoke his name like it was a slur, a curse word, something disgusting and vile. Sasuke shot her an angry scowl. 

"WHAT?!" Suigetsu spoke with a full mouthful spitting out bits of noodle. 

Karin held up one hand in front of Suigetsu's face, "Please don't speak with your mouth full I'll lose my appetite."

"That damn entitled bastard!" Suigetsu spoke after swallowing. He immediately spun his head around the mess hall looking for the blonde culprit, "...if you're looking like that you must have left him busted and handicapped, right?"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted ignoring his friends and continued to eat.

"I mean...don't get me wrong I am grateful he fucked up so that I can be in a single dorm room...If you want we can fuck 'em up together, ya know, tag team him," Suigetsu suggested. His voice becoming energized and he brought up one arm flexing his muscles, "I've always wanted to punch that smile off his face...so how'd it feel? Punching the Hokage's son? Did you feel powerful? 'Ey Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"It must have been about something to get you to lose control," Suigetsu spoke and he leaned over the table his violet hues staring directly into Sasuke's eyes, "...so...what was it about?"

The irrefutable fact was Sasuke had lost control for the second time in his life. Sasuke looked at Suigetsu and Karin. He leaned back speaking in his matter-of-fact voice, "I came to my senses...there was a reason why we stopped being friends...and that reason manifested. So let's just drop the subject. Okay?"

Suigetsu and Karin exchanged glances. They weren't satisfied with the answer, nonetheless they at least got some resemblance of an answer. So they left it at that and changed topics.

*****

Sasuke returned to his double occupancy dormitory. He halted as soon as the door swung closed. Sasuke's eyes immediately fell to Naruto's side of the dormitory...well it was once Suigetsu's side...and then it was Naruto's side...and now...it was just empty.

Everything was stripped from Naruto's bed, from Naruto's walls, from Naruto's dresser, from Naruto's wardrobe, from Naruto's desk. Packed up and removed. Nothing remained. There was no trace of Naruto. He vanished without so much as a goodbye. Almost like the last two months they had lived together didn't happen.

Sasuke looked to his side of the dormitory and every last thing was still in its place, undisturbed. Silent.

Sasuke exhaled deeply, so much that all oxygen deflated from his lungs, and he felt light headed. He leaned up against the door and inhaled. He locked the door before pushing off and walking towards his desk. Sitting down into the chair, he began pulling his calculus textbook and his spiral notebook out from his messenger bag, laying them neatly and orderly on top his desk. Flipping the textbook to chapter 17 he began reading it, his fingers gripping the mechanical pencil tightly, clicking it so the lead emerged, and began taking notes.

Everything was fine...it was fine...fine...everything was going to be so fucking fine Sasuke could barely contain just how fine everything was, and just how fine everything was going to be.

Sasuke didn't know how long he had been studying for, but an eruption of laughter filtering through the room coming from the corridor. It snapped him from the trance like state he was deduced to. Sasuke dropped the mechanical pencil it rolled across the desk and fell off the edge. Hunched over, Sasuke began to shake violently. He brought both hands up to his face and screamed internally.

*****

"What is the meaning of this, Itachi?" Fugaku screamed. 

Fugaku threw down a piece of cardstock with the word ' _Resignation_ ' typed in thick black lettering, onto the walnut wooden dining room table. The document fell in front of the owner, his eldest son. Mikoto reached out for the cardstock, flipped it open and began scanning the words. Itachi sat in the dining chair, unmoving, and staring straight ahead of him. Itachi was seemingly unfazed by his father's words.

"I have accepted a position with the Anbu," Itachi spoke in a clear and even manner. 

Itachi avoided eye contact, and focused on the Caravaggio painting hanging on the wall. It depicted Judith beheading Holofernes. It was the story of Judith seducing Holofernes by getting him intoxicated before beheading him. The painting captured the point of decapitation while Holofernes was still alive. Holofernes eyes rolling up to see his assassin, and only then did he realize the betrayal of Judith. As well as the realization that his death was inevitable. Blood spurted out as the sword sliced the carotid artery, the blade moving deeper into the flesh, through the muscle, through the bone.

"What is the meaning of this, Itachi?" Fugaku continued to shout, slamming both hands on top of the table causing the water glasses to vibrate.

Itachi remained still and silent. Sasuke sat uncomfortably in his seat, eyes trailing to his mother's face whose eyebrows furrowed together. She discarded the cardstock as if it was something foul and she needed to quickly wash her hands from it. Fugaku's face had turned a deep crimson red, and eyes turned into slits of black rage.

Sasuke was feeling the anger from his father and he was internalizing it.

"Does this have to do with Shisui?" Sasuke demanded, "I saw you two together at the Landmark Theater." 

He felt the betrayal his father was experiencing, the disappointment his mother was experiencing, and processed it turning it into his own deep seeded anger back towards Itachi.

"Shisui?!" Fugaku shouted through clenched teeth. "I told you to stay away from him!"

"Itachi...Shisui disclosed personal information from the Uchiha Police to the Yondaime. Forcing your father to step down as police Commissioner! How could you?!" Mikota spoke hysterically, unable to hide the hurt and quiver in her voice any longer. 

"Shisui and I share the same ideologies," Itachi spoke tearing his eyes from the Caravaggio painting and focusing them on his parents. Fugaku and Mikoto. Although they had given him life Itachi felt no real attachment to them, and even now he felt no emotional connection. They were no different than strangers he'd pass on the streets of Konoha.

"...you mean the ideologies of the Yondaime?" Fugaku corrected as he rounded on Itachi, grabbing hold of the fabric of Itachi's button-up shirt and dragging his elder son to his feet. Itachi sighed closing his eyes. Deep lines went from the corners of Itachi's eyes, prominent, as they descended down his cheeks to the middle of his either side of his face. Itachi opened his eyes.

Fugaku balled up his fist ready to punch Itachi in the face, but the elder Uchiha son was faster, stronger, more cunning. There was a reason why he was called a ' _true genius_ ', and he demonstrated it superbly. In a fraction of a second he had his father face down on the table, arm twisted behind his back threatening to snap it, and a kunai poised at his carotid artery.

"ITACHI!" Mikoto screamed her hands flying up to her face as soon as her brain comprehended the scene in front of her.

Sasuke found himself standing up so quickly the chair he was seated in fell backwards and onto its side. "ITACHI! STOP IT!"

It was Sasuke's voice that dragged Itachi out of his trance, and his eyes found themselves staring back at his younger brother's. Itachi felt an emotional attachment to Sasuke. Despite Sasuke glaring at him with contempt and abhorrence Itachi was only able to stare back at his brother with platonic, brotherly, affection. Itachi released Fugaku, secured the kunai back into its holster, and stepped away.

"I can no longer follow your will father...or continue to follow the ways of the Uchiha as the way things are. Not unless things drastically change," Itachi spoke softly.

"You know our position...Itachi…" Fugaku spoke vehemently as he pulled himself up. "You know our ultimate goal. We will succeed. With or without your help. If it comes down to it... tell me...what are you willing to do to stop us? How far will you go?"

Itachi was walking towards the threshold; he had made up his mind he was going to leave. Itachi paused briefly, before leaving. Fugaku grabbed hold of Itachi's forgotten water glass, before spinning around and throwing it. Upon contact with the wall it shattered and rained glass and water down.

Sasuke's eyes had grown wide, his pupils constricted, and he stared at the dining room threshold, his brother had vanished through. Shisui and Itachi were working together. So what did they need with Naruto? Itachi had formally resigned his position in the Uchiha Police Force, and taken the position as a member of the Yondaime's Anbu. 

"Sasuke," Fugaku spoke his voice panting, and Sasuke jerked his head at the sound of his father acknowledging him. "Where are your allegiances?"

"With...the Uchiha...with you, father." Sasuke answered automatically. 

Fugaku nodded his head up and down slowly. Fugaku straightened up and turned towards the glass and gold bar cart, there he pulled the cap off the Johnny Walker's Founder's Blend, before pouring it into the whiskey rocks glass. 

"My goal is to become the next Hokage. The Yondaime will step down willingly...or he'll be carted off in a hearse. The Yondaime will pay for publicly embarrassing me...for turning the public against me...for forcing me to step down as Commissioner...and finally for taking my son! A time will come when I will need your assistance again, Sasuke. You better not disappointment me."

Sasuke seized up. 

A memory flashed through his mind overwhelming him. The last time his father asked him to complete a mission...was the same night he had kissed Naruto, tasted Naruto. The night Naruto forcefully kissed him back, slipping his tongue into Sasuke's mouth. He could still feel it today. Naruto's tongue against his tongue. There was a warmth exploding in his groin just thinking about it. Fuck. Keep it together Sasuke. The same night Sasuke slipped into the Hokage's office and took photographs of important documents. Those photographs he emailed to Fugaku...

...it ultimately lead to the assassination of Mitarashi Anko, and Shimura Danzo being released from police custody. There was blood on Sasuke's hands. He wasn't innocent. And now...his father alluded that the Yondaime will either willing step down as Hokage or will be assassinated. Sasuke's thoughts turned to Naruto again. Sasuke's breath caught in his throat.

Fugaku brought the rocks glass to is lips and took a swig of whiskey, and swallowed, "The Yondaime will fall big...and he will fall hard."

_'This is so fucked up.'_


	19. Every Breath You Take

# Every Breath You Take

 

Naruto leaned his back up against the iron railing. His elbows rested on the railing and his head tilted upwards towards the bright sun positioned at high noon. Although, the sun offered no warmth it was welcoming. It was the middle of February, and it was below freezing temperatures outdoors. Naruto continued to bask in the sun. He didn't know when the next time he was going to see the sun again.

Naruto wore black ray-ban sunglasses that shielded his bloodshot eyes, and held onto a 20 oz Red Bull can in his right hand. Naruto was unable to drink coffee, needing the effects of the taurine in the Red Bull to help absorb the caffeine quicker into his bloodstream, something regular coffee was unable to do. Honestly, Naruto wanted to do a few lines of cocaine, but knew he was about to have another little ' _get together_ ' with Shisui, and knew, the Uchiha would have come up with another cruel and unusual punishment for him if he was under the influence. So Red Bull it was.

"Yo. Feral child. You made it…" Shisui voice rang over the rooftop of the consignment shop. Shisui pushed back his sleeve and looked at his wristwatch, "...and you're on time. Impressive."

Naruto brought the lip of the Red Bull can to his mouth and tilted the can upwards the liquid pouring easily down his throat. He swallowed and exhaled.

"You know...there's only two people I thought about murdering...ya know really murdering, honest to god murdering...with a knife, or a gun, or anything really," Naruto explained coldly. He turned to stare at Shisui who appeared besides him. Shisui was bending over the railing, arms resting on the metal, and leaning over the edge. How easy it would be to push him over the edge. Watch as his body splattered against the concrete below. 

"Zabuza is the first...and the second is you, Shisui." Naruto moved back to tilting his head upwards back towards the sun, "If I knew there was any chance of success I would push you off this roof right here right now."

"Oh?" Shisui asked with mockery, "You're not very bright are you? Stu~pid. Pushing me from this height would only cause a sprained ankle, or sprained wrist at most...Tch. You'll have more luck with a knife...or a gun...or anything really."

Naruto's face burned red with embarrassment, and his grip tightened around the Red Bull can; crushing the thin aluminium. Shisui flashed a cold, conniving, smile.

"Poor little rich boy," Shisui mocked as he lifted a palm to Naruto's cheek. "Your life must be really...really...really hard."

Naruto swung his arm up swatting the other man's arm away from him. He jumped back several feet. His body entering flight mode. Panic seizing him as he spoke distressingly, "Get your filthy hands off of me!" Naruto shifted his eyes from right to left; becoming hypervigilant. Shisui quirked an eyebrow. The younger boy was about to unravel...at any minute. Shisui just hoped he would keep it together a little longer.

"Touch me again and I'll end up charging you a fee," Naruto continued. There was nobody else on the roof but him and Shisui.

Naruto began calming himself down using humor as a defense mechanism. He brought the shaky Red Bull can to his mouth once more. Shisui sighed in relief. The blonde was still humorous. There was still time left before Naruto cracked into a million tiny pieces.

"Get on with it...any longer with you and I'll jump off the roof myself," Naruto threatened.

"Time and location tonight," Shisui complied. 

"I...don't know…" Naruto spoke as he pulled out his cell phone and began looking back through the text message conversation with Haku. "We're to take the bus to the Chihiro Train Station at 5:00PM...a car will pick us up and take us...there."

"Oh?" Shisui asked. "Let me see your phone." 

Naruto hesitated, before handing over the phone. He still kept a few feet distance from Shisui, and watched as the other man pulled out a USB port, which he inserted into the charging dock. Shisui began typing something unknown before pulling the USB port out and handed the phone back to Naruto. The real time GPS tracker was installed and Shisui felt his own cell phone vibrate as the connection was setup and information was sent to Shisui's phone from Naruto's periodically.

"The Chihiro Train Station is the Akatsuki territory...with connections to Danzo. Itachi will more or less have more information. I will inform him, in case you cross paths with Itachi...pretend you don't know him, yeah?" Shisui explained. 

"I...I don't want to go...I have a bad feeling," Naruto admitted. 

"This is our chance. If you are introduced to Biwa Juzo...tonight will be the night we arrest both Juzo and Zabuza. Just bare with it for one more night. Think of it this way. It's an undercover operation. After tonight your life will go back to normal."

"What if something happens to me?"

"Nothing will happen. Biwa Juzo won't appear in public settings so this is the chance we need. After tonight we'll arrest both of them, and it'll all be over." 

"Fine..."

*****

It was Valentine's Day.

Naruto didn't even make the connection until he was seated on the bus side by side with Haku. He was watching Valentine's Day prix fixe dinner advertisements for various restaurants in downtown Konoha across the LCD screens.

Everything about tonight put him on edge. First from the change of venue. To being sent to the Chihiro Train station. He was going to be introduced to unknown monsters at an unknown location. It was out of his comfort zone...and he swore at himself...hating himself for missing the Tree Leaves hotel. At least at the hotel he knew there were other people around...and now he was going to an undisclosed location somewhere else. The fear of imminent death tormented him. Left him a ball of nerves, with bile being pumped into his stomach, and forcing him to sit on the edge of the seat. 

Naruto told Haku he didn't want to go. Like it mattered. Like he actually had a choice.

It was more money...much more money, Haku explained trying to ease Naruto's mind. The unknown monsters they were meeting were high class clients who didn't want to risk showing their faces at the Twin Leaves Hotel. Liability. Instead paid a pretty penny to ship them to the party they were throwing.

Naruto told Shisui he didn't want to go...and Shisui held a carrot in front of Naruto and told him one more time and everything will come to an end. Naruto was getting exhausted of this life he was leading. He wanted things to end. Just one more night, and everything will come to an end. Just one more night, and it will be all over. 

Haku pushed the call button on the bus, and soon the bus was grinding to a halt outside Chihiro bus stop. Naruto followed Haku off the bus. There was a girl about their age seated on the bench taking refuge from the bitter cold inside the glass vestibule. She had brownish-orange hair pulled into pigtails, and was dressed warmly in a parka and long maroon scarf.

"Haku?!" The girl spoke as she stood up abruptly. Naruto didn't recognize the girl, and as a result stayed his distance. He didn't want to know her. Didn't want to get attached. So he didn't. Stood on the outskirts and looked away.

"Moegi…" Haku spoke softly a hint of shock in his voice. "What-"

"...what am I doing here?" Moegi answered. She laughed nervously, shifting her weight to her left foot and nervously holding the edge of her coat with both hands. "I guess...the same reason you're here…" She noticed Naruto.

"Are you...are you the Hokage's son?" Moegi asked with awe and disbelief. She stepped in front of Naruto.

"No!" Naruto lied as he stepped away from her. 

"Don't worry. I won't tell. Nobody would believe me anyways. So tell me. Why are you here?"

"The same reason you are!" Naruto snapped viciously. He didn't know why he was taking his frustrations out on her. Maybe because she knew who he was...she was a threat. She could tell and ruin everything. He had to be on the offense. 

Moegi smiled and laughed. It didn't faze her. Naruto looked at her. She was younger. Caught somewhere between 13 and 15 years old. But her eyes were eclipsed. She was flying high on Callisto. Naruto saw the signs. The three of them waited there in silence. Three lambs to slaughter.

A black escalade rolled up to the bus stop. Without another word the three little lambs entered the backseat.

"Do you know Konohamaru? He and I went to the same elementary school together," Moegi prattled on. "Me, Udon, and Konohamaru were inseparable! Now it's just me and Udon..."

Naruto didn't answer. He purposely ignored Moegi throughout the duration of the car ride, despite the fact she chatted incessantly, having the need to fill the silence with chatter. Refused to acknowledge her anymore. It was better this way. She was too young. She was too young and it pained Naruto...and Naruto didn't want to get involved. 

The black escalade drove up a winding road through the woods until it arrived at a gate. Etched across the gate was a sign that read ' _The Manor_ '. The car was idle for a few moments, until the gates unlocked and opened, allowing the vehicle passage.

Naruto stared out the window up at the gigantic two story mansion. The house did not look welcoming, and to Naruto no matter how beautiful it appeared on the outside it was a prison stifling screams on the inside. It was too late to turn back, and although Naruto wanted to hold his hands up and say ' _Just kidding. I don't want to be here, and I want to leave_ ' he didn't. Instead he entered the prison of stifling screams.

*****

His name was Biwa Juzo and he was wanted for espionage, treason, and capital murder for his crimes transpired in Kirigakure. Juzo was from the bloody mist. He was identifiable by a scar in the shape of a cross on his right cheekbone. He was a sexual deviant, an unhinged murderer, and had chosen Naruto as his plaything. And this deviant was leading the young blonde into one of the rooms upstairs. 

Naruto was so high on Callisto he could barely walk straight, his vision blurred, and his words slurred. Naruto lost track of all time inside The Manor. He blacked out the majority of the hellish night. His hand pressed up against the walls in the corridor as he was being lead to one of the rooms for a private session. A door opened and he stumbled into the darkness of the room. 

Naruto's eyes attempted to focus on what was inside the room. The instruments that filled the room, filled him with instant dread and panic. He turned around ready to abandon this mission, and call the whole thing off, but Juzo was blocking his way. It wasn't that easy. Naruto was in too deep… far too deep into the sinister underworld. Leaving the room, leaving this house would mean certain...death. He'd be ripped apart by Cerberus who guarded the entrance the moment he left this hell.

"Take off your clothes," Juzo commanded in a deep baritone. "But...do it slowly."

Naruto's eyes went to the board in the middle of the room, complying, shedding the layers of clothes he wore to the floor. One by one. Slowly. As instructed. Juzo's eyes didn't leave his body. The board was black and rectangle, the size of a human body, and there were leather cuffs on all four corners. Hanging from the ceiling above the black board was a spiked leather neck choker that dangled in the air on a chain.

Naruto was being shoved down on all fours on the black matted board. Juzo worked to secure his wrists and ankles into the leather restraints. He was forced to remain on all fours, unable to move.

Juzo appeared with a leather ball gag and held it up in front of Naruto's face as he purred, "You'll be a good boy…a good slut, won't you?"

Naruto nodded his head up and down. It was the same fear he felt when Zabuza pulled the trigger of the gun an inch from his ear. If he didn't comply he was going to die. Juzo slipped the red ball gag into his mouth and fastened it around his head. His teeth biting into the rubber. His tongue pressed up against the foreign object, and it tasted salty. Naruto's mouth began to salivate. 

Juzo was blurry. The lighting in the room was dim causing shadows to spread out, hiding Juzo's expression. Naruto was unable to focus on anything clearly. Everything morphed around him. Juzo swept over picking up the leather neck choker that was connected to a chain from the ceiling. The leather straps went around Naruto's neck and it was secured tightly. So tightly it partially cut off oxygen, making it difficult to breath...making it difficult to swallow, and he was soon feeling woozy and lightheaded.

"You're shivering…" Juzo spoke elated. "It excites me."

Naruto's entire body went numb. His mind filled with FM radio static, and soon he was detaching from reality. His consciousness curling up inside itself...into a subspace. Juzo removed the belt from his pants, wrapped it around his hand and began striking Naruto's exposed back. Naruto had screamed out as the leather licked at his flesh. His screams were muffled by the gag in his mouth.

The sound of leather slapping against flesh excited the older man. Juzo's erection was full on, and painful, trapped inside his pants. Juzo wanted to take his time. Emphasis on 'wanted to'. But fuck, this blonde slut was making it extremely difficult, making those noises that drove him mad. Juzo struck him three more times with the leather belt. His eyes widening as welt marks began appearing, outlining in a pinkish red, on his once virginal back.

Juzo went to the table and picked up a water based lubricant and an anal plug vibrator. The vibrator was black with five beads. Juzo kneeled down besides Naruto who was panting, and attempting to keep his head upright so as not to obstruct his breathing. Juzo squirted lube onto his fingers and inserted his pointer and index finger into Naruto's puckering anus causing the boy to gasp out in surprise. Juzo began massaging the hole, stretching it, fucking him nice and slow with his fingers. After a moment Juzo pulled his fingers out and inserted the anal vibrator with a layer of lube on it directly into his anus. It was tight, but he shoved it in, flipping it on.

The vibration began scrambling Naruto's insides, causing a white film to overcome his vision. Naruto moaned against the gag his body tensing up around the vibrating device. Blood rushed to his penis and soon he had an erection. It felt...good.

Juzo stood up and grabbed hold of the chain that was connected to Naruto's choker and pulled. It caused the choker to fasten tighter and tighter around his neck, and forced his head upwards, effectively cutting off all oxygen to him.

Naruto couldn't breathe, his eyes watered and bulged, he felt his face growing hotter. His vision blurred until he couldn't make sense of the world. Just before he felt like he was finally going to pass out and enter darkness the chain was released and the choker loosened. He inhaled oxygen back into his lungs. Never has he been so desperate for oxygen in his life. He was coughing and sputtering. Saliva rolled from the sides of mouth, down his chin, and pooling into a puddle on the black mat.

Juzo grabbed the chain once again pulling it and choking Naruto. The blonde's vision went black and every molecule screamed for oxygen. The pressure around his neck felt like it was going to snap in two. Pain erupted from his back, and every pain neuron was firing simultaneously throughout his body. Every inch of his body was inflamed.

Juzo grabbed the belt with his free hand, and began beating Naruto's back, and he was screaming. It was muffled. He was going crazy. Juzo couldn't hold back anymore. He went wild. Beating Naruto. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. The welts criss-crossed and overlapped one another as the leather sliced through the air and struck the puffy, bloodied, broken flesh of his back. Juzo released the chain, and Naruto began sucking air in violently through his nose, and attempted through his mouth. 

Juzo tossed the belt to the side. He slid his pants and underwear off, and kneeled besides Naruto; licking the blood that trickled from the open lashes on his back, lapping up the blood like a thirsty dog being led to the water bowl.

He wanted nothing more than to ruin this child.

The last tool Juzo grabbed from the table was a six inch blade knife. Positioning himself behind Naruto he pulled from the boy the vibrator and threw it to the ground, before plunging his erect cock deep inside. The slut was still tight and gripped his cock, practically begging to finally get fucked...and Juzo graciously obliged. He began thrusting into the little slut over and over again, roughly, didn't even care if it caused fissures and tearing around the anus to appear, causing blood to trickle down the insides of Naruto's thighs. Filling Naruto up. Juzo reached up and pulled the chain that was wrapped around Naruto's neck. The oxygen was cut off. 

He fucked him raw. Fucked him bloody. Naruto passed out in the middle of it, but was revived by a stinging pain. His anus was being stretched even more. He woke up to experience Juzo was fucking his anus with both his cock and the vibrator at the same time. Naruto felt his intestines were going to fall out of his ass if Juzo pulled out. He screamed.

Juzo wasn't done yet...no no no...he needed one more thing, before he could finally cum. There was a reason why it was called the bloody mist. 

Juzo brought the blade to Naruto's neck, underneath his chin. He didn't just cut him he dragged the blade across Naruto's neck; slicing open the flesh. It caused blood to pour out like red rain. The blood came out in a sheet. In a beautiful red waterfall. Naruto's eyes rolled into the back of his head, until only the whites of his eyes remained. He blacked out. His entire being embracing oblivion.

Naruto wondered if this was how it felt to die. It felt hollow. Cold. Desolate. Almost like he was sucked up into a vacuum and spit out somewhere in deep space.

*****

"The patient is suffering a laceration over the left lateral neck in zone II...extensive hemorrhaging, and hypovolemic shock. He experienced cardiac arrest in the ambulance, and was successfully resuscitated. He received O neg blood en route in the ambulance."

"The patient's name?"

"Naruto….the patient's is identified as Uzumaki Naruto…"

Naruto heard voices...someone was saying his name...somebody began rolling him from his side onto his back. It felt like he was under water. The voices were muffled and distant. Naruto opened his eyes and a blinding light welcomed him. It stung and watered his eyes. He felt oxygen filling his lungs, a mask was placed over his mouth and nose. He felt thirsty. He wanted to ask for a glass of water.

"It's being requested he be admitted under an alias...the media is not to find out about this under direct orders of the Hokage."

Naruto was looking up at the ceiling, and he slowly began to recognize where he was. The sterilized environment. The smell of cleaning products. Blinding light. Ceiling. Blinding light. Ceiling. He was moving. He was on a hospital gurney, and on either side of him were nurses, dressed in white, wheeling him down the hallway towards the elevator.

The gurney stopped, and soon hands were all over him.

"Naruto...can you hear me? I'm going to need you to stay with us, okay? Naruto can you do that?" the Nurse closest to his right spoke to him reassuringly with a voice as smooth as honey. 

"He's losing blood, Doctor...he need's another blood transfusion! Stat! What's his blood type?"

"Just start O neg! We don't have time!" another voice snapped and Naruto felt somebody taking his right arm where an IV was already inserted. 

"We need to stitch up the wound on his neck, prep the O.R! We're heading up now!"


	20. Who is in Control?

# Who is in Control?

 

Naruto had pulled out the foley catheter from his penis. It caused him to scream out in pain, and blackness to fill his vision. Eyes watering. Naruto looked down once he regained his vision, and saw blood splattering on the tiled floors of the hospital room. _Fuck_. Naruto let go of the catheter that ballooned at the end and dripped in his blood. He moved towards his clothes which were sealed in a plastic red biohazard bag, that rested on the stand next to his hospital bed.

"Ouch...pulling the catheter out of yourself are you some kind of masochist?" Shisui said from the hospital room door. Naruto glanced at Shisui from over his shoulder. He ignored Shisui and grabbed the plastic bag. Shisui was dressed head to toe in his Anbu uniform, sword positioned on his back, white and red kitsune mask fastened around his face. Anonymous.

Naruto recognized his voice with or without the mask. Tch.

"...so...surgery went well...and you're still alive," Shisui continued as he closed the door shut behind him. 

Naruto had bandages and gauze covering the entirety of his neck, twenty sutures stitched closed the skin underneath his chin back together again. Bandages and gauze covered his back where the welt marks were bloodied and raw, and bandages wrapped around his left wrist which was in a splint due to it being sprained. His left wrist ligament was completely torn and in a splint. Naruto vaguely remembered injuring himself as he tried escaping from the leather handcuffs. 

It was Sunday night. Twenty-four hours had passed.

"Naruto...there is someone I want to tell you about. It's about a girl named Moegi…" Shisui spoke. He moved his body so that he was in front of Naruto. The blonde had pulled his clothes from the plastic bag, and was slowly putting his underwear back on. Naruto focused his eyes elsewhere, continuing to ignore Shisui. Naruto was unable to move without wincing and limping. Every movement took effort and drained him of energy. There was a morphine veil over him. 

"...she was unable to be resuscitated...she's dead Naruto...tell me what happened last night?"

"...did you arrest them? Did you arrest Zabuza and Juzo?" Naruto asked. His voice was hoarse. His throat sore. The words didn't feel right on his tongue. 

"We were unable to. By the time we arrived they were gone." 

Naruto paused momentarily. The morphine slowed his brain, and it felt as if everything was happening in slow motion. Naruto pulled the hospital gown off his body, and climbed into his pants. He noticed large stains on his denim jeans. It looked like dry paint. Naruto pulled his t-shirt over his head and began wincing as he pulled the fabric over his torso. Naruto looked down at the front of his shirt. Drenched in dried blood. His blood.

Naruto had a flashback. He was laying on his back and Juzo had forced his tongue into Naruto's mouth. He pulled back and purred in Naruto's ear, ' _Let's play again real soon._ ' Juzo disappeared and a shadowy figure appeared. Naruto couldn't make out who it was but they pressed a cloth against Naruto's neck and began to dress him. 

"Naruto…" Shisui spoke his voice low. 

Naruto reached for his coat the last piece of clothing in the plastic bag...his orange bomber jacket was also covered in a layer of blood. It was his favorite jacket...and it was ruined. Naruto had another flashback. He was being dumped at the Chihiro Bus Stop, and someone...was on the phone with the emergency dispatchers. That same person began removing his clothes. Naruto's eyes were wide open, unblinking, as someone began doing chest compressions.

Naruto blinked and was back in the hospital room. "I need a change of clothes...I can't wear this. I have class tomorrow…"

"Naruto…" Shisui said his name once more. 

"I NEED A CHANGE OF CLOTHES! I'M GOING TO BE LATE FOR CURFEW!" Naruto screamed as he began pulling his clothes off.

Naruto thought to Iruka doing bed checks, and he wasn't going to be there. Oh no! He wasn't there last night...Naruto crumbled into a small ball on the floor with realization, and screamed again only it was wordless and full of pain.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU ARREST THEM? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T ARREST THEM?" 

"We have a warrant for his arrest the next time we see him-"

"You said...you said just go this last time...YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO ARREST THEM!"

Shisui bent down and touched him offering some type of comfort, but it was the wrong thing to do. Naruto screamed like a wounded animal and jerked his body away from Shisui. He was used and tortured and fucked and left for dead and it was all for nothing. Naruto's screams caused two nurses to appear in the door. Naruto was hyperventilating and continued pushing his body away from Shisui. He was enraged. All he saw was red. Everything was painted in blood red. 

"SO ALL OF THIS WAS FOR NOTHING?!"

"What are you doing?" 

Two nurses appeared. One nurse stepped in front of Shisui blocking his path to Naruto, while the other nurse rushed to Naruto's side. He had managed to back himself into a corner and he was struggling with removing the blood soaked jeans off his legs. His shirt was already thrown across the room. 

"Out! Get out of this room! This is still a hospital! I won't have you upsetting the patient!" the nurse closest to Shisui yelled as she began physically pushing the man out of the hospital room.

"He's bleeding through his sutures," the nurse who was examining Naruto said, "Call the doctor!"

"Naruto...honey...can you try breathing through your nose for me," the nurse spoke softly. Naruto wasn't able to. He continued to hyperventilate. His vision began blurring around the edges and he was entering a dark tunnel again. How was he supposed to fucking breathe when the monster who did this to him was walking free. 

"If you don't calm down...I'm going to have to sedate you…" The nurse pulled out a syringe. Naruto's eyes went wide and wild again as he focused on the syringe, but it didn't subdue him...how was he supposed to be calm when he was promised they were going to be arrested, and they weren't! 

"Step back nurse. Leave him be...," a female's booming voice commanded. 

"Doctor Tsunade!" 

"Leave us." 

Tsunade commanded as she stretched out her hand. The two nurses bowed and left, closing the door behind them. Tsunade pulled out a chair and dragged it so that it was approximately four feet away from Naruto and sat in it, crossing her legs, and folding her arms.

"Take your time kid...if you're not finished screaming yet...go ahead...don't worry I patched you up once, and I can patch you up again. Something horrendous happened...an act of evil. The media will be paid to say you suffered a car accident...and the Anbu will tell you to repeat that lie with a smile. So go on...tell me how you're really feeling. It won't leave this room."

And Naruto did. He broke down in the corner of his hospital room. 

*****

Naruto was strategically wearing a form fitting, eggshell, turtleneck sweater. It covered the bandages around his neck. Everything he wore was new including his converse sneakers. A brand new dark denim jacket lined with sherpa fleece on the inside and along the collar, and a new pair of black jeans. Every article of clothing he wore on Saturday night was deemed a biohazard to the medical staff, or to Shisui ' _criminal evidence_ ', and was removed from his possession. Including his favorite orange bomber jacket.

The blonde was signing forms on a clipboard in the hospital lobby. A few more signed documents and he would finally be free. A familiar voice called out his name from across the lobby. Sakura.

"Naruto!" 

Naruto lifted his head to see her face contorting into an ugly, crying, hysterical mess. Sakura was dressed in her school uniform and wearing her signature red peacoat. Tears streamed down her face. She ran towards him practically tackling him. She wrapped her arms around his torso pulling him into her and burying her crying, snotty, face into his chest. The impact caused Naruto to drop the clipboard and discharge documents.

"Sakura!" Naruto exasperated. He wasn't expecting anybody to greet him at his discharge. It was all supposed to be top secret. The clipboard bounced off the floor.

Naruto winced as her arms wrapped around his bruised back. The air was temporarily knocked from him, but this time it was okay, and he breathed in Sakura's familiar smell. He reminded himself that everything was okay, and he was okay. He was stitched up and bandaged back together. He was going to be okay. Everything was going to be alright.

"You stupid bastard!" Sakura cried loudly, "You stupid, idiotic, bastard!"

Naruto laughed, "Hey you said stupid twice!"

"I couldn't get a hold of you...a-and they said you were in a c-car a-accident! Are you okay?" 

Sakura sobbed louder and she held onto Naruto with her monstrous strength tighter. A small cry escaped Naruto. Realizing how tightly she was holding onto him she immediately released him, leaping back, afraid to cause anymore damage. She looked him up and down. From the outside he looked fine, normal, all intact and in one piece. He was standing and moving all in one piece, and not confined to a wheel chair and all busted up like she had imagined.

Naruto smiled warmly and held up his left wrist exposing the splint, "Just a sprained wrist, whip last, and a little bump on the head...nothing to worry about! You know me I heal quickly."

"Why were you in the hospital for three days? And they wouldn't allow visitors! Believe me I tried. I did! I came here the past two days once I found out."

The nurse who was besides Naruto, and assisting him in the discharge, leaned over and picked up the clipboard muttering to herself. It was scenes like this why they attached the pen to the clipboard with string and tape. The nurse handed Naruto the clipboard which he took, and continued signing the documents.

"I'm the Hokage's son, Sakura…" Naruto shrugged nonchalantly, "...I was hospitalized for five days when they removed my tonsils. This...it's just...protocol." Naruto lied so easily he was beginning to believe his own lies as truth. They rolled from his tongue with such finesse.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you're okay...I always knew you had a thick skull!"

"Hey!" Naruto spoke acting hurt as Sakura bopped him on the top of his head. "I just got out of the hospital...a little gentleness wouldn't kill you!"

Naruto handed the nurse the clipboard back, which she took and examined to make sure all the t's were crossed and i's dotted. She nodded her head satisfied, "You're free to go. You will need to come back in a week for Doctor Tsunade to remove the stitches."

"STITCHES?!" Sakura cried out, her face twisting back into worry and fret, and she looked him over again mortified. It caused Naruto to start laughing, from the belly outwards, causing his eyes to water. 

"It's not funny!" Sakura yelled as she punched Naruto, albeit playfully, in the shoulder. "Don't do this to me! I was really worried, Naruto..."

"I'm sorry Sakura…" Naruto said softly as he stopped laughing and wiped his eyes. 

Sakura and Naruto moved towards the exit and both walked side by side towards the bus stop. Naruto inhaled the winter air, and exhaled out the recycled air from the hospital. It felt good. Freedom. The cold air stung his lungs, and watered his eyes. It was still better than being confined inside the hospital room. A million times better than being imprisoned inside a room.

"New rule!" Sakura demanded throwing one finger up in the air. "You're not allowed to go to the hospital for the duration of the year!"

"But, what if I get hurt again? Am I just supposed to lay out on the sidewalk next to the hospital?" Naruto teased. "Is it okay if the doctors work on me on the sidewalk, or does it mean no medical help whatsoever?"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!" Sakura spoke her face turning bright pink, and she folded her arms indignantly.

"Thank you for coming Sakura it really means a lot to me." Naruto spoke seriously as the bus rolled up. "Oh...I don't have any money, dammit!" Naruto thought back to his missing wallet, and missing phone, and missing student ID card. Juzo's face appeared in front of him and he heard the man whispering, ' _Let's play again._ ' Naruto seized up.

"Naruto! You stupid bastard!" Sakura laughed. She pulled out her student ID, and her own wallet paying his way as they entered the bus. Naruto blinked. Juzo was nowhere in sight. He was safe. He blinked and followed Sakura; hoping Shisui or Haku were holding onto his belongings. Then again. Naruto began to think that maybe it wasn't a bad thing to be completely off the grid, unattached, and isolated from the rest of the underworld. He'd probably prefer it that way.

*****

There was only one seat available on the bus, and Sakura was pushing him down into it. She stood in front of him holding the silver bar, as the bus shifted gears and began moving.

"I'm not crippled, Sakura," Naruto answered. He winced from the impact of his back hitting against the hard plastic seat. 

"Yes you are!" Sakura countered. Her emerald eyes looked out the window, but inadvertently they returned to Naruto, examining him closer. He had stitches, somewhere on his body, and she wanted to know where. Her mind immediately went to worse case scenario, before rationalizing to best-case scenario.

"They didn't give you a summary of the discharge paperwork?" Sakura asked as she looked at Naruto's empty hands. She wanted to read it to see for herself the extent of damage he sustained in the 'car crash'. "Mhm." Sakura stared suspiciously down as Naruto avoided her.

"Will we make it for afternoon classes?" Naruto asked his eyes shifting to examine the digital clock near the front of the bus however from his seated position he wasn't able to see the time. 

Sakura's facial expressions turned apprehensive. "You need to go and rest!"

"Sakuuraa that's all I've been doing for three days! I want to go to class...do something...I don't want to remain in bed all day! Please don't make me!" Naruto spoke throwing his head into his hands and shaking it dramatically.

"Okay fine...but we'll need to hurry. Where are your belongings anyways? Sasuke told me...you switched rooms…?"

"Oh...well...it wasn't exactly an authorized room change." Naruto confessed lifting his head slowly. "I was staying in Shikamaru's dorm. His roommate is out on sick leave...mono. I figured I'd move all my things there until the roommate came back."

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled causing several pedestrians on the bus to turn their heads towards the two students. Several turned their noses up and mumbled about juvenile delinquents cutting class, and others prayed for the future of the country with youth like them mucking around.

"How did Iruka not catch you?" Sakura demanded. Her voice lowering once she saw the dirty expressions the pedestrians were sending in their direction. 

"I just made sure he saw me in the hallway...ya know...before the accident."

*****

On their way to the Art and Languages building Naruto was panting and wincing in pain, his lungs making a wheezing noise as he sucked in oxygen. Sakura thread her arm through his and she slowed her pace. Sakura watched as Naruto closed his eyes and his fingers went to his throat where he held on for a couple of seconds before lowering them.

"You okay?" Sakura asked. Naruto opened his eyes and nodded his head slowly, "Yeah. I'm just thirsty."

Sakura and Naruto entered their English classroom five minutes before class began. Naruto halted immediately at the second desk near the front of the classroom not wanting to go back to his old seat. 

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed.

She shoved Naruto to the back of the class where she looked at the unidentifiable character. "I'm going to need you to return to your old seat...you see Naruto wasn't feeling well when he requested to change groups, and now he's feeling great." 

The unidentifiable character looked up at the icy glare Sakura was giving of murderous intent. A small cry escaped his lips as he nodded his head in agreement. He gathered up his belongings and left. Naruto glanced to Sasuke's empty desk. He wasn't here. Odd. Sasuke always came to class at least fifteen minutes early. It was unsettling. Maybe he was sick.

"Sit." Sakura commanded and Naruto obliged sliding uncomfortably into his seat. 

Sasuke entered the classroom. They caught each other's attention instantaneously. Naruto broke out into a smile. Staring at his smile it felt like Sasuke was transported back to the first day of Kindergarten. Back to when Naruto was first introduced into his life. Sasuke repeated the same action as that day. He rolled his eyes and turned away coldly. He wasn't going to be lured and baited by that smile any longer.

Sasuke continued to ignore Naruto; focusing his attention on Sakura. She spun around and greeted him happily, "Good afternoon, Sasuke! Look...Naruto's out of the hospital!" She pointed at the blonde as if Sasuke didn't see him. 

Sasuke was saved. Kakashi entered the classroom and began rapid firing questions at them.

*****

"Naruto!" Someone was shaking him and he blinked away the darkness. 

"Huh?" 

Naruto straightened up to notice the classroom was empty except for Sakura who was leaning over the desk, messenger bag on her shoulder, inches away from his face. He was awoken from a nightmarish trance that involved freakish monsters, and death, and maggots. Sweat was dripping down the sides of his face. Naruto looked to Sasuke's seat and noticed the other boy was gone. 

"How ya feeling there? Ready to leave?" Sakura asked refusing to remove her face from his personal space. Emerald eyes staring deep into his blue hues. Almost daring Naruto to lie to her. Ready to pounce if he did lie.

"Maybe...I should lay down...I'm not feeling well..." Naruto spoke a feeling of nausea washed over him and his skin became hot and cold all at the same time.

"Let me help you. I'll call Shikamaru to let you into the room," Sakura spoke with a satisfied smile. Together they left the classroom.

Sakura spotted Shikamaru in the outside courtyard walking up to them. She waved her hand in the air and called out. "Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru's slanted eyes gave Naruto a once over, and he stuffed his hands into his pockets, refusing to say anything. Naruto looked at him nervously. Silence persisted. Shikamaru tilted his head to the side waiting for Naruto to say something first. The blonde was hesitant. The silence continued. Sakura looked nervously at the two boys she opened her mouth to say something, anything, but thought against it and closed her mouth. The silence remained. It was awkward, uncomfortable, and hung thick and suffocating in the air.

When it looked like Shikamaru was about to cave and speak was when Naruto became the first one to break the silence.

"Shikamaru...I am so sorry!" Naruto apologized desperately.

"This is the second time you did this to me Naruto. Don't let this happen again...because there won't be a third time," Shikamaru answered curtly. Naruto clapped his hands together and nodded his head up and down in agreement. Shikamaru looked him over again. 

"I'm giving you the heads up. All of your stuff is back in the dormitory with Sasuke. Iruka denied the room request. Also, your father agreed with the academy, and you're being placed on lock down. You're not allowed to leave the campus without prior approval."

_What?!_

Naruto was a sponge and absorbed everything rapidly, and when he became over-saturated and couldn't absorb anymore did the internal panic switch flip on. Information overload. The vital piece of information he clung to: he wasn't allowed to leave campus. It sent tremors through his body. Naruto combed his hair nervously with both hands.

"Wow." Naruto breathed nodding his head up and down. "...that was...yeah that was a lot of information in such a short amount of time. I need a minute to process."

*****

"Naruto?! Are you listening?" 

Iruka yelled slamming his hands on his desk making a loud banging noise. It sounded like a belt striking his back. He felt a phantom stinging on his spinal cord. It caused the blonde to jump and yelp a cry of surprise. He breathed heavily and looked around. He was safe. He was inside Iruka's office. He was careful not to press his back up against the leather seat, and sat tenderly on the edge. Iruka had been going over the stipulations of Naruto's punishment. It included a 7:00PM curfew. Meaning he needed to remain in his room at 7:00PM, if he didn't, his curfew would be pushed up to 5:00PM. 

Yes, Iruka..." Naruto spoke begrudgingly.

"Your room request was denied. You will remain with Uchiha Sasuke. Understand?"

"Yes, Iruka."

Iruka moved so that he was in front of the desk. He leaned against it looking down at Naruto who was staring at the corner leg of the desk. Iruka's voice softened, "Naruto...when I say you're not allowed to leave campus...it means you're only allowed to leave when your father approves it. Do you understand?"

The way Iruka worded it made Naruto uncomfortable and nauseous. Naruto looked up at Iruka horrified. Did he know? No...he couldn't possibly know-know. Maybe he knew something was going on, but definitely didn't know-know. This was the second time his father's name was brought up...not ' _Yondaime_ ' but as ' _your father_ '. Naruto scoffed at that...not once did he visit him while he was in the hospital. Not as the ' _Yondaime_ ' and not as ' _his father_ '. Hearing his name set him on edge. Twisted up his insides and made him internally scream.

"Yes, Iruka."

"Return to your dorm room. Curfew starts in 10 minutes."

*****

When Sasuke returned to his room he was surprised to find Naruto laying on his stomach. He was on his bed with a textbook propped open. The blonde vanished and reappeared like a goddamn apparition. Naruto looked up when the door opened a smile spreading his lips at the sight of him. And Sasuke? He wanted to punch Naruto in his goddamn teeth. Sasuke turned away, decided he was going to continue the silent treatment. He wasn't going to engage. Naruto pushed himself into a seated position, crossed his legs, and rested his hands in his lap. Sasuke wasn't going to allow Naruto to do what he pleased. It hurt too much. 

"Hi Sasuke," Naruto greeted softly, so softly it was barely audible, but Sasuke heard it, and continued to ignore him. Naruto was dressed in silk pajamas. His dark eyes shifted towards the bandages wrapped tightly around Naruto's neck, and the splint around his left wrist. There was a sharp pain in his heart.

"What happened to your neck and wrist?" Sasuke asked automatically. Fuck! He didn't want to know. Yet he kept finding his eyes drawn to Naruto.

"It was...a car accident," Naruto lied. 

"Where you with Haku?"

"No." Naruto lied. 

"Who were you with?"

"Shisui." Naruto lied again.

Sasuke nodded his head and didn't ask anything else. He grabbed his towel, pajamas, and bath caddy and moved towards the adjoining bathroom. Naruto pushed himself up from the bed and scrambled into a standing position.

"Sasuke wait..." Naruto breathed and Sasuke paused and turned around to face him. "I wanted to say-I wanted to say I am sorry for what I said, and what I did, and..." 

"So what about it? What? Did you expect me to just forgive you? That you'd apologize and all is forgiven?"

"Yes! Because you're my best friend, and sometimes we argue, and we need to learn to make up!" Naruto answered. Sasuke turned back around and continued making his way to the bathroom. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's wrist before he opened the bathroom door and pleaded.

"Wait...hear me out, please. I'm really sorry."

Sasuke retched his hand from Naruto's grasp and turned around to glare at him, "I don't want to hear anything you say! Do you understand?! Maybe you should think twice about getting into the car with Uchiha scum. The real Uchiha trash. Serves you right for trusting somebody like Shisui. Maybe you got what you deserved. Just leave me alone, Naruto!"

Naruto's eyes widened. Sasuke opened up the bathroom door and slammed it shut behind him.


	21. Gasoline

# Gasoline

 

Naruto wasn't allowed to leave the campus. Those words became absorbed and accepted. He felt relief. He had an excuse. A valid excuse not to go with Haku. At least for the time being. But would that be okay? No. Would he be punished? Yes. His stomach began turning on itself. His intestines twisting and turning and knotting. He felt nauseous. He felt dizzy. He felt sweaty. Felt dirty. Unclean. Uncomfortable. Unlike himself. He just wanted it to end. If Shisui wasn't going to end things, then it was up to Naruto. He'll find Haku tomorrow. He'll find Haku tomorrow and end things.

Naruto was pulling the comforter over himself when Sasuke exited the bathroom. Sasuke glanced at his blonde roommate. He felt particularly cruel. He wanted to sever their bond completely. His heart ached too much whenever he was close to Naruto. He didn't want to feel this way any longer. 

"You're not going to scream and cry in your sleep again are you?" Sasuke asked his voice filled with mockery and torment.

"Hmm?" Naruto murmured as he rolled over to his side.

"I mean...if you're going to cry and scream again I want you to sleep in the bathroom. It's annoying." 

"I...won't..."

"Or ya' know. If you want to sleep in Haku's bed I won't tell Iruka." Sasuke spoke with a cruel smirk. "I'd like to see less of you if possible. You're becoming an eyesore. So why don't you leave. Go on. Do it." 

"I-I...don't want to. I want to stay here...I..." Naruto spoke hoarsely. He was on the verge of crying. Naruto didn't know what to say. He felt frightened. He trailed off, unable to complete the sentence. Without another word Naruto covered his entire body with his comforter and cocooned himself. He rolled to his side into the fetal position; facing the wall. He was acting like a child hiding under his blankets from the monsters. Acting as if this was a way to protect himself from the monsters that lurked in the dark. But the monsters already tore him apart. 

Sasuke caught himself and stopped. He covered his mouth with his hand. Breathing sharply through his nose. He was being cruel...too cruel. Panic filled his stomach. This wasn't him. He was acting like his father. Sasuke could taste the hatred that exuded from his father, and could feel it slowly transitioning into himself. He wanted to apologize to Naruto, but he had already barricaded himself in his comforter. The truth was Sasuke was worried about him. Iruka came to his room Sunday night asking if Sasuke had heard anything from Naruto. He hadn't returned to the dormitory, and his whereabouts were unknown. 

Sakura had told him that Naruto was hospitalized and that medical staff were refusing all visitors. Sasuke wanted to see Naruto and that thought carried him to the front desk of the hospital. Only to be turned away by security. Whatever happened to Naruto was a secret kept between Naruto and Shisui behind the thin veil of pretending it was a 'car accident'. Naruto came back with bandages around his neck, and a splint around his wrist. Something profound happened to him, and it wasn't a car accident. Sasuke knew Naruto was lying, and instead of calling him out on it he lashed out at Naruto. 

Naruto came back and apologized to Sasuke...and Sasuke wanted to forgive him. It just hurt too much being so close to Naruto. He didn't know how to tell Naruto properly how he felt. So he didn't. 

It hurt so much he just wanted the pain to stop. Because the thoughts that filled his head weren't the kind of thoughts that someone should be having of their best friend. In fact. They were the complete opposite...and these thoughts caused him persistent anxiety, fear, and he hardened himself. He was caught between wanting to hug and forgive Naruto and berate and hold a grudge against him. He didn't know what to do so he went to sleep.

*****

It was past 3:00AM when a hypnic jerk rattled through his body with the sensation he was falling. It caused Naruto to wake up panicking. He woke up screaming. He pushed himself out of bed and into a standing position. Naruto was panting and soaked in sweat. He was blinded, and gagging on his own tongue. 

In the darkness Naruto began to have flashbacks. He fell backwards onto the floor another scream escaped his mouth. He was being restrained. On all fours. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't force oxygen into his lungs. He felt the knife being dragged across his neck. The serrated blade cutting, and slicing, his sutures open. He began hyperventilating. His fingers reached for his neck wanting to prevent the blood from spilling out, to apply pressure before the ambulance arrived. Thinking if his hands were removed from his neck he was going to bleed out...he was going to bleed out and he was going to die.

The lights were turned on and everything became white.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sasuke yelled as he moved from the light switch towards his blonde roommate sprawled out on the floor. His eyes trailed to Naruto's hands gripping his own throat.

"This is exactly what I was talking about!" Sasuke continued coldly, kneeling down in front of him. "What are you even doing? Get up you're being-" Sasuke felt a warm body being wrapped around his torso. The blonde had contorted his body, wrapped his arms around Sasuke, and buried his head in the crook of his neck. He had thrown his legs around Sasuke. Straddling him, and pressing his groin against his. Fuck.

Sasuke lost his balance and fell backwards. His arms stretched out catching himself. His legs sprawled out in front of him. He couldn't move. Couldn't breath. His heart thumped madly inside. Naruto continued to straddle him.

"Let go of me!"

Sasuke spoke his voice shaky and unsure; betraying his words. Naruto's body felt warm and inviting. Sasuke made no move to shove the blonde off him. Just sort of hoping he'd dislodge on his own. He froze. An alley cat caught in the headlights of a truck.

"No!" Naruto cried out as he clung onto Sasuke. He lifted his head so that he was inches from Sasuke's face. So close that Sasuke could see the tears streaking Naruto's cheeks. "Not until you forgive me! Please! I'm sorry. I fucked up...okay. Sasuke you're my best friend. I need you! PLEASE! I'm sorry!"

"You bastard..." Sasuke exhaled and he wrapped his arms around the blonde enveloping him into a hug. Sasuke clung to Naruto just as desperately as Naruto clung to him.

*****

They were sharing Sasuke's twin sized mattress. Their bodies laying between one thousand thread count Egyptian cotton sheets. The heat that radiated off of Sasuke was unnatural. The dark-haired boy's body temperature rivaled a preheated oven, and it left Naruto flushed. Naruto was curled up on his side wide awake, staring at Sasuke who had seemingly drifted back off into a deep sleep.

He somehow ended up sharing Sasuke's bed. Naruto tried to replay the events that lead up to this. There was a moment of hysterics on Naruto's part, coupled with Sasuke attempting to calm him down, and finally adding a dash of Naruto clinging to Sasuke out of sheer desperation broke down all the barriers Sasuke was putting up. Naruto couldn't remember who it was that suggested it, but they both ended up on Sasuke's twin sized mattress.

Naruto explained he couldn't sleep with the light off, he was afraid of the dark, and so they compromised, and Naruto's desk light was turned on. The orange light illuminated Sasuke's features. He trailed the sharp edges of Sasuke's face with his fingertips. His strong jawline, his straight nose, his high cheekbones, the sharp angles of the locks of hair that fell over his face. Sasuke's skin was iridescent, smooth, and the color of the first snowfall which contrasted beautifully to the silky black locks that resembled the night sky.

Naruto was completely and irrevocably enamored with Sasuke.

Listening to the other boy's long drawn out breathing of sleep filled him with confidence. Naruto pushed himself up positioning his body so that he was looking down at Sasuke's face. The other boy's eyes were still closed. A peaceful expression on his face.

Naruto just wanted one kiss...one kiss and he'll be satisfied. Just one…to chase away the nightmares that awaited him.

Naruto closed the gap between their bodies. Naruto was about to pull away when he felt movement on Sasuke's end. The kiss bloomed and Sasuke's mouth opened, and in unison Naruto's mouth opened hungrily. Naruto slipped his tongue into Sasuke's mouth and was greeted warmly with Sasuke's tongue. The kiss deepened and intensified. Naruto's tongue slid up and down Sasuke's tongue. He explored and memorized the insides of his mouth. Naruto's fingertips brushed against Sasuke's cheek, and his hand went and lifted Sasuke's chin up, tilting him so he could explore deeper. The kissed filled Naruto with happiness and warmth. It felt like a midsummer's eve. It felt right. It felt normal. It felt like things should always be this way. Simple and effortless. Natural. 

He didn't want the kiss to break...didn't want it to end...but a small moan escaped Naruto and it frightened him. He pulled away quickly. A trail of saliva trailed Sasuke's mouth as Naruto rescinded. Naruto, embarrassed, closed his eyes. Bringing his hand to cover up his mouth, as if it would somehow hide the evidence of what they had done. Naruto curled up alongside Sasuke. He buried his head in the memory foam pillow, a smile spread his lips, and a smile filled his heart as he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

*****

Naruto was the first to leave the dormitory. Leaving at 6:50AM. It gave Naruto enough time to find and talk to Haku before his first class. Dressed in his school uniform, and matching knit cap, mittens, and scarf. He made his way down the staircase two, and three at a time. Naruto shifted the weight of his messenger bag and pushed open the front door of Cypress Hall. He collided with an unknown redheaded girl wearing thick-rimmed glasses. The other girl was falling backwards, and Naruto quickly caught her before she fell down the stone staircase.

"Sorry-sorry! Are you okay?" Naruto asked as he held the girl by her shoulders, helping her regain her footing. The redheaded girl immediately stepped backwards, tearing herself from Naruto's hands. Her expression caught somewhere between disgusted and mortified. She didn't say a word just continued to stare. Naruto raised his eyebrows at her oddity, and pushed the front door open, stepping aside, and allowing her access.

"Here...once again...sorry." Naruto bowed his head as the redheaded girl furiously brushed past him and entered the building.

Naruto was lost in deep thought as he made his way to Sycamore Hall. His body automatically carrying him towards Haku's dormitory. He wasn't hallucinating right? Sasuke kissed him back. That happened, right? Naruto kissed Sasuke, and he willfully kissed back.

Naruto was dry. He detoxed in the hospital...only not really. Instead of Callisto the hospital staff were pumping him full of liquid morphine with a dash of fentanyl. No...he was dry...left him with the pieces of the psychological and emotional maladies that lead him to Callisto in the first place. Naruto was dry and sober. This wasn't a hallucination. This was real life. Naruto continued to grapple with the thought of kissing Sasuke...of Sasuke kissing him back. Intentionally, or unintentionally, all the way until the door opened and Haku appeared. Sleepy-eyed and groggy. Haku's eyes focused on Naruto and an inaudible cry escaped him.

"Hey…" Naruto breathed. He leaned against the door frame. "Let's meet at the usual spot...in fifteen minutes?" Haku nodded his head up and down robotically.

*****

"For fuck's sake, Haku!" 

Naruto had lost it at the sight of Haku. Naruto was standing under the large naked oak tree by the frozen lake. The sky was grey, the clouds were grey, and everything was hazy and still. Isolated. They were isolated and alone by the lake. Haku's mask was off, and he was wearing a real expression. An almost human expression on his face. A pained expression.

"Naruto…" Haku spoke as he stepped closer. 

"No!" Naruto fired back. He took several steps back pointing a finger at him. "Don't come any closer. You lied to me, Haku. You said everything was going to be okay. I didn't want to go anywhere but the Tree Leaves Hotel. You fucking lied, alright!"

The composure he had managed to hold onto was dismantling, and bursting at the seams. Imploding. He couldn't hold it together any longer. Not when Haku was giving him such a pained expression as if he wasn't equally culpable.

"He held a knife to my fucking throat...he slit my fucking throat while he fucked me from behind, Haku! I thought...I thought I was going to die...and a part of me...thought I really did..." Naruto cried out and his eyes filled with tears. It was okay to show Haku this ugly side of him. Because Haku understood. He witnessed the terrors that went on inside that prison of stifling screams. 

"Did you know?!" Naruto accused. 

"NO! No...I didn't know!" 

Everything Naruto felt came out at once and it came out in red...red...red.

"I hate what I'm becoming. Haku...I can't...I can't do this anymore!" Naruto cried he didn't know if he believed Haku or not he just wanted it to end. The tears overflowed and poured down his cheeks. "You...you did this to me…" If he had just never met Haku...none of this would have happened, right?

Haku was pulling Naruto into a hug his voice hoarse as he was pleading with him; bargaining. "Naruto...Naruto...I am so sorry…! Please! It won't happen again! I won't ever let this happen to you again."

Naruto tilted his head back and screamed. His screams echoed and Haku held on tighter. Naruto collapsed to the snow laden ground, and Haku followed. Naruto continued to cry in anguish, his entire body trembling, unable to stop. Haku continued to wrap his arms around Naruto, rocking them both back and forth, repeating, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" On repeat. Like a mantra. Hoping if he said it enough times that the words would reach Naruto and he would accept them as truth.

When Naruto was drained, when the tears ran dry, and he felt completely and utterly empty of everything was when Haku began kissing him. He didn't know how to deal with human emotions. He masked it with Callisto. Masked it with sex. His lips brushed against Naruto hungrily, and for a moment Naruto's body responded. It didn't last long. Naruto shoved Haku away and yelled, "Haku! Stop!"

"Please don't leave me." Haku spoke desperately. "Without you...I'll be alone again."

"For...fucksake I almost died, Haku! I can't leave campus...and I have a 7:00PM curfew...do you understand? I just need some time away from you. I need a break from you. From us and whatever it was we were." 

"What?" Haku said as Naruto began pulling away. He stood up, and moved back slowly. Naruto was physically removing himself from Haku, and Haku continued kneeling in the snow watching Naruto leave him. He didn't move from his spot in the snow.

Haku screamed when it sunk in that Naruto had broken up with him. He was enraged that Naruto was backing away from him, leaving him, and breaking up with him. 

"You already have everything...it isn't fair! YOU HAVE EVERYTHING!" Haku screamed.

"I didn't ask for any of it. I need time away from you. I can't even be out of my room past 7:00PM. Haku...do you really think I have a choice? I almost fucking died! I'm not...I'm not going back. I can't. I won't." 

"You're going to regret it…you'll regret backing out now." 

Haku spoke coldly. Suddenly the mask was back on his face. Fastened and secured. Haku stood up slowly. His back cracking as vertebrae shifted back into place. One by one by one. Loud popping noises. Haku flipped an internal switch and any humanity, any vulnerability, he shown had vanished. Haku's facial expressions were smooth, a conniving smile on his lips. His voice even and temporal. All the light in Haku's eyes were gone leaving nothing but empty orbs of black. A chill went down Naruto's spine, and his breath caught in his throat.

"...because I know that I am already regretting _saving_ you as we speak. I should have just left. I should have left you bleeding out at that filthy bus stop. At least with you dead I wouldn't have to experience you betraying me. Maybe you were better off dead. You're going to regret this, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto had a flashback to laying against the cold asphalt at the Chihiro Bus Stop. Haku had removed Naruto's jacket and shirt. He fastened the shirt around his neck to staunch the bleeding. He told Naruto he needed to apply pressure to the gash on his throat. He needed to apply pressure or he was going to bleed to death. He was going to die. In that moment Naruto's heart stopped. His hand went limp curled around his neck; unable to apply pressure. A film enveloped his eyes as they remained opened, and focused, on Haku. His eyes captured the scene, and the image was imprinted into his brain. The blood stopped pumping around his body. He ceased to breathe. He remained absolutely, deathly, still.

The next scene was Haku on speaker phone with emergency dispatchers. The emergency dispatcher gave Haku step by step instructions on how to preform CPR, which he followed perfectly. Naruto was standing next to his lifeless body. Staring down at Haku trying to save the corpse that was once his body. Watching Haku fill Naruto's lungs up with oxygen. Like blowing up balloons, followed by chest compressions. Repeat. A dark film eclipsed his vision and Naruto faded away into nothingness. 

The flashback evaporated and in its place another image appeared. An image of a scene that unfurled...of _what could have happened_...or what happened in another world in another universe if Haku left Naruto to die. Naruto was laying on his back, choking and spluttering on his own blood. His eyes wide open and watching Haku who stared down at Naruto. A conniving smirk spread his lips, watching as blood pooled around Naruto's head, as blood filled his stomach and then his lungs. Haku watched as Naruto's heart gave out. Life left him in the same way he was born...tragic. Haku stood over Naruto's lifeless body before turning and walking away.

Naruto gasped loudly for air his hand clutching at his chest. He blinked. He was back in the present. By the skeleton tree next to the frozen lake. 

Naruto's eyes moved to watch the other leave. Haku spun around and walked a few feet before pausing. He pulled something from his coat pocket and stared at it. Haku turned back to face Naruto. Holding out his hand where Naruto's cell phone was.

"This is yours isn't it…?" Haku gripped the cell phone tightly, held it above his head and threw it out towards the frozen lake. Naruto watched as the phone collided onto the ice and slid further out of reach on the frozen tundra.

Naruto stood, unmoving, staring out at the frozen lake. Listening to Haku's footsteps crunching against the snow as they got further and further away. Until only silence greeted him. Until it was just himself, isolated, by the frozen lake underneath the giant, skeleton, oak tree. He wasn't going to go after the phone. He didn't need it anymore. The skies opened up and thick, fluffy, snowflakes began falling. Like frozen tears falling from the sky. He did it. He finally ended things.


	22. Do I Wanna Know

# Do I Wanna Know

 

There is a phenomenon called the pink cloud syndrome, and it is a very dangerous phenomenon in early recovery.

In that moment Naruto felt powerful, infinite. He had unearthed some secret to the real world behind the Callisto, behind the adderall, behind the alcohol. He experienced the real world behind the facade and he had survived. Naruto was alive. His heart was pumping and oxygenated blood pumped through his veins. Naruto felt energy returning to him, and when he caught sight of his reflection, he recognized the blonde boy staring back at him.

' _That is me and I am him_ ,' Naruto though as he caught sight of his reflection in the window of the mess hall. 

It began when he mended his friendship with Sasuke, albeit when he had kissed Sasuke and Sasuke kissed him back while they were in Sasuke's twin sized bed. It intensified with the temporary removal of Haku from his life, like a parasitic twin being removed down the middle; separating to two, separate, corporal entities. The stronger twin will live and the weaker twin will shrivel up and die. Reinforced by assimilating back into his social group and reintegrated back into life before Callisto, before Haku, before Zabuza, before Shisui.

"You and Haku broke up?" Sakura asked although not attempting to hide the happiness and glee in her voice.

Naruto laughed nervously, and threw his hands behind his head. They were sitting in the mess hall at lunchtime. Two weeks had passed since he last spoken to Haku. Two weeks since his cell phone was thrown out into the frozen lake. Two weeks since he last seen his prison wardens. Zabuza. Shisui. And one week since he removed the bandages from his neck and the splint from his wrist. Naruto was beginning to really think he was free. Began to believe there wasn't going to be any repercussions. Began to believe there wasn't going to be any punishments. It was exhilarating. This freedom.

He was liberated from the prison... ~~at least for a little while.~~

"I mean. I will support you with whoever you date, but no, I didn't like Haku. I didn't like him at all." Sakura said flatly and with a wave of her hand. She wasn't ashamed to speak candidly.

Naruto took hold of the shrimp tempura with his chopsticks and took a bite. A tray was placed besides Naruto. Ino appeared in the seat besides Naruto and began to introduce the new kid. 

"Everybody...this is Sai...Sai, well, this isn't _everybody_. Buuut, this is Naruto and that's Sakura. Guys this is Sai. He transferred Sunday, and he's in my English class. I told him to join us for lunch, and he agreed."

Naruto's eyes trailed from his shrimp tempura to the dark-haired boy appearing besides Sakura. He watched in fine detail as the boy placed his tray down and sat besides Sakura; parallel from him. Sai resembled Sasuke in the same genetics from Asian decent: cream complexion, black coal hair, and smoldering slanted black eyes. Although Sasuke had all right angles and straight edges. Sai's face was softer, rounder, and fuller.

"What are you staring at? It's rude to stare, so stop!" Sai snapped coldly when he noticed Naruto's crystal blue eyes on him. 

"Oh...sorry…" Naruto and Sakura spoke in unison as they both turned away.

"Sai!" Ino reprimanded. "Sai...is socially awkward...and he's working on that aren't you, Sai?"

Naruto stole a glance at Sakura and noticed she too was unconsciously staring at him as well. Sakura caught his attention, held up her hand to her face and mouthed, ' _He looks just like Sasuke._ ' To which Naruto mouthed back, ' _I know!_ ' Both turned back to their lunch trays.

"Naruto is your curfew still 7:00PM?" Ino asked as she began eating rice. 

__"Unfortunately…"_ _

__"...so they won't even make a little exception to leave campus say...tomorrow night to go to the exclusive club opening of _Sortie_?" Ino spoke emphasizing ' _Sortie_ ' in her best french accent._ _

__"Yeeah, I don't think Iruka will approve of me leaving campus to go to a club, Ino. So...a hard pass on that," Naruto spoke sarcastically, and with a roll of his eyes._ _

__"Why do you have a 7:00PM curfew?" Sai interjected. Naruto shrugged refusing to explain his circumstances to an outsider._ _

__"Ah...so you're a problem child...or what they call a juvenile delinquent," Sai concluded._ _

__Naruto asked his eyebrows raising in alarm before recovering and smirking, "Oh...I see...you're an asshole."_ _

__"Sai!" "Naruto!"_ _

__Ino reprimanded the same time as Sakura reprimanded Naruto._ _

__"I may be an asshole but at least I don't have a 7:00PM curfew," Sai continued haughtily._ _

__"I'm sorry...and who you are you again?" Naruto demanded with a tilt of his head._ _

__"It's Sai...Ino introduced me...unless you're also hard of hearing, stupid, and a juvenile delinquent. You don't have a lot going for you do you?" Sai countered._ _

__"Guys! Enough of this who has a bigger dick mentality," Sakura lectured. Ino snorted bringing a hand to her mouth obviously enjoying the banter as a form of entertainment. Sakura glared at Ino. It was obvious she knew Sai's personality prior to inviting him to join them for lunch. Ino was known for adding a little chaos to things._ _

__"I mean...judging by your quick temper, Naruto. It's safe to speculate your dick is about the size of my pinky," Sai spoke with a cold smile as he held up his pinky finger on his right hand. Naruto instantly stood up, running on adrenaline, leaned across the table, and grabbed hold of Sai's uniform with both hands. He dragged the other boy up to his feet clutching the other boy's sweater up in balled fists._ _

__"Do you want to get your teeth bashed in you asshole?" Naruto threatened. Sai didn't flinch and in response grabbed a fistful of Naruto's sweater responding with, "You seem unqualified as a dentist. I'll pass."_ _

__"Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka screamed from across the cafeteria. Instantaneously Sai released his hold on Naruto's sweater. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed. Shit._ _

__"My office. Now!"_ _

__Naruto released the fabric of Sai's sweater, before smoothing the wrinkled material across his chest with both hands. He felt the muscles underneath as his fingers moved across his pectorals. Naruto's crystal blue eyes stared right back at Sai's smoldering dark eyes. He was challenging him, and attempting to establish dominance over him. It didn't work. The look Naruto gave was regurgitated and mimicked on Sai's features right back at him. Naruto slowly retracted his hands up, an act of compliance. He stepped away from the table, and followed Iruka from the mess hall; throwing both hands behind his head as he walked away._ _

__Ino leaned across the table towards Sakura breaking the silence, "Do you feel a sexual energy with those two...or is that just me?"_ _

__"What did you say? There was no sexual energy," Sai interrupted as he sat back down next to Ino._ _

__"Sai. Naruto is openly gay. That's why I wanted to introduce you."_ _

__"Sai...you're...gay?" Sakura asked clearly in shock._ _

__"Ino...not every gay guy is automatically attracted to another gay guy...just because they're gay. It's offensive. It's like you being attracted to someone just because they're straight," Sai explained and he glanced towards the exit watching Naruto's back disappear through the double doors._ _

__"Wait..was your purpose to hook Naruto up with Sai?" Sakura asked, ignoring Sai, and turning her attention to Ino._ _

__"Well yeah...we don't like Haku...so what's a way to get rid of Haku then to introduce Naruto to a new boy?"_ _

__"You don't have to go that far Naruto just told me he broke up with Haku."_ _

__"Oh good! My plan worked!"_ _

__"I don't think you know how plans work, Ino."_ _

*****

Sasuke returned to the dormitory late. He had been spending his evenings studying in the library until it closed and he was forced to return. He needed the excuse to not be inside the dormitory where he knew Naruto was imprisoned after 7:00PM. When Sasuke entered the dorm room he expected Naruto to be sleeping in his bed, but the blonde was hunched over on his desk, arms wrapped around his head like a pillow, in deep sleep, sprawled over textbooks and spiral notebooks.

Sasuke found himself so infatuated with the blonde it was becoming detrimental. His mind kept going back to the moment when Naruto was curled up besides him on the bed, when Naruto positioned himself above him and kissed him. Intuitively, Sasuke had woken up the moment he felt Naruto's lips on his. Liar. No...no...no...the reality was Sasuke was awake the entire time. He felt Naruto's fingertips outlining the features on his face. Attempting to trick himself into sleep in hopes his brain would be convinced and flip switch off. It didn't. He was aware. His heart quickened and all he could hear between his ears was the thump thump thumping of his own heart...and then Naruto had kissed him, and he had kissed back.

He didn't want to stop...stopping was a criminal offense. He wanted it to continue. Wanted it more than he wanted anything else in his whole life. He felt it in his bones. He felt it in the core of his being. The moan that escaped Naruto's mouth that night caused blood to pump into his penis. It wasn't the first erection he experienced, but every erection he had was because of Naruto. He was thankful when Naruto pulled away and retreated. He didn't know what would happen if it continued. That thought frightened him, and yet thinking about it...excited him. 

Sasuke gently closed the door, and began moving silently, as to not disturb his blonde roommate. Dark eyes glanced towards the orange prescription bottles of klonopin and prazosin that were besides Naruto on the desk. Naruto never brought up the kiss, so a discussion was never had. The only conversation they shared after _that_ night was when Naruto picked up the prescriptions that would prevent him from screaming out in his sleep.

Being around Naruto left him emotionally fatigued and it was calamitous to his well being...unless...Naruto wanted it too. Sasuke shook his head and began getting ready for bed.

Sasuke with his teeth brushed, face washed, dressed in his pajamas, crawled under his comforter. Naruto woke up violently. Sasuke could sense the blonde's panic and pushed himself into an upright position. 

Naruto cursed, "Sai you bastard!"

"Hm?" Sasuke asked. ' _Who the fuck is Sai?_ '

"S'ske?" Naruto asked as he leaned over his desk and turned the lamp on. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Because I'm not your caretaker...I'm your roommate, usuratonkachi," Sasuke spoke indignantly and with a shrug of his shoulder. Naruto's face broke out into a smile, and it melted Sasuke's heart forcing him to turn away, and lay back down on his bed.

"What time is it…" Naruto spoke as he looked at the digital clock. "11! You keep coming back so late...you bastard...What am I supposed to do all by myself in the dorm? You're supposed to keep me company!"

Sasuke's mind entered a dark and perverse place. Several things crossed his mind of what Naruto and Sasuke could do together inside the dorm...and it was these thoughts that kept him in the library, and away from Naruto.

"...and why should I also be punished?" Sasuke asked. He rolled onto his back, watching as Naruto began opening up the orange prescription bottles where he dumped a circular titanium white pill and a white and pink capsule into his palm. He tossed them into his mouth, and swallowed with a chug out of his glass water bottle.

"I know-I know. I'm working on being less selfish. Speaking of selfishness. That new kid Sai? I want to punch his goddamn teeth in. I'll show him how good of a dentist I can be." Naruto spoke energetically. "The asshole got me in trouble today during lunch."

Naruto entered the bathroom and reemerged a minute later toothbrush in his mouth, brushing his teeth as he continued to talk. "He was being all high and mighty. Who does he think he is? Oh no. I'm not going to lose to him. Sonofabitch talking about my penis size." Naruto disappeared back into the bathroom. Sasuke heard the faucet turn on, the gargling of water, and then the faucet being turned back off.

"I don't think solitary confinement is good on my psyche, S'ske." Naruto huffed as he sat on the edge of his bed, bare feet pressing against the floorboards. Blue eyes focusing on Sasuke.

"Sasuke?" Naruto spoke quietly. Sasuke was laying on his back, eyes closed, listening to Naruto prattling on. The other's voice was comforting and lulled him into a state of tranquility. He could be lulled to sleep by the sound of his voice. 

"Hm?" Sasuke murmured.

"I broke up with Haku." Naruto spoke his voice even quieter. Naruto waited for Sasuke to respond and when he didn't he concluded. "I wanted you to know...goodnight."

Sasuke felt his heart physically skip a beat or in medical terms he experienced premature ventricular contractions. Naruto's words disturbed his normal heart rhythm and it left him weak and lightheaded and oxygen deprived. He listened as Naruto crawled into his own bed. Naruto was cruel, tormenting him like this. He continued to lay on his back eyes closed pretending to sleep. Going over Naruto's words. They had broken up. Haku was removed from the picture. Naruto was single. He was freed. After an hour of restless thinking his emotional exhaustion finally transmitted into physical exhaustion, and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

*****

"S'ske." 

Naruto whispered and Sasuke groaned as he was being pulled back into consciousness. Sasuke felt warmth sliding under the comforter, heard the bed springs creak. He smelled the familiar smell of Naruto fill his nostrils. His eyes fluttered open bringing their room to focus. Sasuke turned his head to see Naruto's form crawling into bed with him.

"Wha'da doin'?" Sasuke asked his voice groggy with remnants of deep sleep.

"Can I sleep with you again tonight?" Naruto asked curling on his side, head resting on the same pillow that Sasuke was using. Sasuke felt panicky. This was dangerous. He didn't want Naruto so close to him. But he did...he wanted him bad...

"Okay," Sasuke answered. His eyes remained opened, and the sleepiness rescinding. He couldn't deny him anything.

"Sasuke…are you awake?" Naruto asked his voice low and husky. 

"Well...yeah now I am why-"

Sasuke was interrupted, and silenced as Naruto brought his lips to Sasuke's. It was as if every synapse was lit up and every neuron was firing all at once inside Sasuke's body. Endorphins flooded his bloodstream filling him with ecstasy. Naruto's fingers brushed against Sasuke's cheek forcing his head to turn and meet his, which he complied with. Sasuke's mouth opened and Naruto entered gently. The kiss was more gentle, and more intimate, and it left Sasuke hungry...and wanting more. Needing seconds. Only this time...Naruto didn't pull away. Naruto's fingers went to Sasuke's jawline, moving up until his fingertips combed through his hair, which sent shivers down his spine, until they cupped the back of Sasuke's head pushing him closer and closer towards Naruto.

Sasuke felt pressure as Naruto climbed on top of him, straddling him. Warmth and blood rushed to his groin as he felt Naruto's body, felt Naruto's tongue, tasted Naruto's mouth. He wanted more. Needed more. Blood rushed to his penis and another erection formed. 

Naruto broke the kiss, but it didn't end. Instead the blonde pushed Sasuke's head to the side. Kissing his neck. 

"Mhn..Ah...Nng…" 

Sasuke moaned as Naruto found a sensitive spot on his neck. Naruto's fingers found themselves underneath Sasuke's pajama shirt, fingertips brushing against his flesh, moving up his stomach, until they found his nipple where they began to rub and massage. Naruto continued to suck, and lick his neck. He lifted his shirt higher up and brought his wet mouth to Sasuke's exposed nipple where he began to lick, and suck, and bite. His nipples turned hard.

"Naruto...what are-" Sasuke asked incredulously but was silenced again as Naruto brought his mouth back to Sasuke's...and it was exactly what Sasuke needed to be quiet. Naruto's mouth. The kiss was intoxicating and Sasuke was feeling drunk on it. Every kiss translated to a shot of tequila, and he was happy to die from alcohol poisoning if it meant feeling this good. Sasuke's head went blank and drowned in a sea of euphoria and alcohol poisoning.

Naruto brought his fingers to the elastic band of Sasuke's pajama pants. His fingers slipping beneath the band and trailing around the edge of his boxers, teasing Sasuke as his fingers brushed over his erect penis, over the fabric of his boxers. Naruto moved his fingers to the elastic band of his boxers, underneath the band, pulling the fabric down. His hand moving deeper down, over his pubic hair, until warm fingers wrapped themselves around his penis. Naruto's warm fingers around his penis was a new pleasure that Sasuke was bathed in. He wanted Naruto's fingers all over him.

"Naruto...Mhm...Ah…wait..." 

Sasuke moaned again and the noise sent Naruto wild. Naruto wanted to explore more of Sasuke's body. Naruto pushed the comforter off them and moved down, pulling Sasuke's swollen penis from his pants and bringing it to his mouth. Naruto first began licking the shaft, saliva trailed up and down his member. He moved towards the ballsack where he began sucking and licking. It caused more moans to escape Sasuke's mouth. He felt heat rush his face and he felt his cheeks turning pink with flushed passion. 

Naruto continued to pay special attention to the balls, tasting Sasuke with his mouth. A sweet and sour taste on his tongue. Naruto brought his wet mouth to the tip of Sasuke's penis, where he began to tease the boy. Circling his tongue around the head of the penis, before sucking on the head. Naruto could taste the precum. The salty white texture swept over his tongue and down his throat. Naruto smiled. 

"Mhm…Ah...Ah...Nar-uto..."

Naruto brought all of Sasuke into his mouth, wrapping his mouth around Sasuke and sucking, while his hand went to massage the base. Naruto deep-throated Sasuke so that the back of his throat vibrated against Sasuke's penis. In a rhythmic fashion Naruto moved his head up and down, wetting Sasuke's penis with his saliva, sucking, licking, up and down until...Sasuke came. It happened quickly and without warning. His cum filled Naruto's mouth with a salty bitterness and Naruto swallowed. Sasuke watched as Naruto pulled away and wiped his mouth with a thumb before flashing Sasuke a perverted smile. That smile caused Sasuke's face to turn a shade of a squashed tomato. 

Sasuke pulled Naruto up and kissed the blonde forcefully, hungrily, and Naruto kissed back passionately. Sasuke moved his hands to either side of Naruto's face, his fingers moving to the blonde's silky hair. Sasuke was drunk and intoxicated and so high he never wanted to return to earth...wanted to stay in his twin bed exploring space, together forever, with Naruto. 

Finally they broke apart both panting heavily. Naruto pressed his forehead against Sasuke's. A layer of sweat on his body. His body temperature around one-hundred and one degrees. Naruto was staring into Sasuke's eyes searching for something. Sasuke wanted to ask what he was searching for. He wanted to know so that he could give it to Naruto. 

"I'm sorry Sasuke...I couldn't...hold back any longer…" Naruto interrupted Sasuke.

"Usuratonkachi…don't apologize. Doing this kind of stuff on a school night. Go to sleep," Sasuke spoke hoarsely and with a smile. His breath coming out in shallow bursts. Sweat rolling down his temples. He held onto the blonde and they both collapsed back into bed. 

"Goodnight...S'ske."


	23. U Got That

# U Got That

 

Naruto's bloodstream was filled with oxytocin and his brain was filled with vasopressin. He was experiencing a biological high, unlike the effects of Callisto, it left him in control and conscious. Naruto couldn't stop himself from smiling, and when he became consciously aware, it made him blush.

Naruto had been clean from Callisto for over two weeks and he substituted the drug which activated the pleasure center of the brain to a drug which activated every part of his being. The effects were long lasting and he felt it through the day, not just for an hour like Callisto, and he didn't feel the withdrawal, the total collapse, the complete devastation when his body burned through the drug. Maybe he had an addictive personality moving from one drug to the next...only stopping when that emptiness inside was filled, and his hunger was satisfied. 

Naruto's focus had been on Sasuke.

"Sasuke...I like you," Naruto spoke, leaning against his desk. He was fully dressed in his school uniform and watched Sasuke reach for the door handle. He wanted to say it before Sasuke left the dormitory. His statement caused Sasuke to pause, fingertips inches from the door handle.

"...in a ' _I want to be more than friends_ ' way," Naruto clarified, his fingers gripping the edge of the desk tightly, stabilizing himself. He found himself trembling when he spoke. It was a different experience saying the words out loud. Sasuke didn't say anything. He continued to be frozen in his tracks.

"But, I mean. If you want to. If you don't s'okay. We can just keep being friends." Naruto hesitated. Sasuke wasn't moving. He wasn't saying anything, and tiny explosions of panic erupted internally. He had to do something, say something, anything. He couldn't.

Sasuke was feeling hungover. Although what he and Naruto did last night was something he wanted all along he was blanketed in the protection of night, and intoxicated in the moment. His body just responded to Naruto, and his mind was flipped off. Now that it was daylight, and he had clarity, his mind was racing, and filling with a jumble of conflicting thoughts. Sasuke was never attracted to any girls, and didn't envision himself with any of the girls at the academy. Yet when he thought about Naruto he envisioned it. Kissing him. Holding hands. Going to the movies together. Eating dinner together. Cuddling as they read books on a Sunday afternoon. It confused him. Because whenever he thought about romance and dating he only ever thought of Naruto. 

Sasuke didn't want to admit that he was... _ ~~gay~~_.

His thoughts turned to Fugaku and immediately he felt frightened. Fugaku was strongly against homosexuals and had often used the slur, ' _faggot_ ', when speaking of Gekko Hayate an attorney who was openly gay and took over as District Attorney when Mitarashi Anko was murdered. Fugaku criticized Namikaze Minato for being a ' _faggot lover_ ' for his support and endorsement of District Attorney Hayate. Yes, Sasuke was well aware of his father's stance on homosexuality and it frightened him...and he was unable to move...unable to breathe. The realization settling in like liquid cement solidifying, slowly at first, and then all at once.

"Sasuke…hey...are you...okay?" Naruto spoke and Sasuke shifted his eyes to find Naruto's body leaning up against the bedroom door. Naruto positioned himself between Sasuke and the bedroom door. His too blue eyes filling with concern and staring up at his face. Sasuke was suddenly riddled in panic.

' _What did I do? What did I do? What did I fucking do?_ ' Sasuke screamed internally.

"I have to get to class I can't deal with this right now," Sasuke spoke coldly as he grabbed hold of the door handle and turned to stare resentfully at Naruto who was still leaning against the door. "Move."

"Hey, can't we talk about it at least? Not now, but later?"

"No! I don't want to...so...move." 

Naruto blinked shell-shocked. Sasuke's behavior took a complete one-hundred and eighty degree turn. Naruto pushed himself off the door and backed up. Without another glance, or another word, Sasuke opened the door and left. Slamming it shut behind him. 

It was Naruto's fault.

Sasuke had absolute control over his feelings for Naruto. He kept everything locked up tightly in the dark recesses of his brain. He had no intentions of acting out on those feelings. Sasuke had absolute fucking control, until Naruto broke down every defense mechanism and barrier, making it damn impossible to resist his advances. His resolve weakened and he gave in. Naruto was becoming his own personal drug and he was becoming addicted.

Sasuke had to be stronger.

It was something Sasuke knew as a child. Sasuke had fallen in love with Naruto when they were children. Back when they were ten and Naruto's sudden and abrupt absence from school, left him devastated. He felt utter darkness, and isolation fester deep inside, and all he wanted was for Naruto to return to his life. When Sasuke entered Naruto's bedroom and hugged him was when he felt it. The lightness, and happiness, and completeness was restored to his being. Laying side by side on Naruto's bed he came to the realization that he had loved his best friend, and as soon as it came to realization Sasuke suffocated that feeling, repressed it until it became something like distorted thinking.

Those feelings resurfaced and they were raw.

*****

"Hi Sasuke!" 

Naruto greeted enthusiastically with the warm smile that lit his eyes up. Sasuke was seated in his desk and had everything laid out neat and orderly for English class out in front of him. Sasuke glanced at Naruto who sat down besides him and he felt his cheeks burn. He didn't answer. Naruto was totally immersed in conversation with Sakura, acting like nothing happened. Maybe that was for Sasuke's benefit. He suddenly felt guilty for the way he acted this morning. 

"What are you so happy about Naruto?" Sakura accused. "You got reprimanded again by Iruka today in lunch!" Sakura moved her body so that she was standing next to Naruto and effectively blocking him from Sasuke's view. 

"Hey this time it wasn't just me. That bastard got in trouble too," Naruto spoke triumphantly and threw up two peace signs, and stuck his tongue out.

"Don't gloat just because you got Sai in trouble," Sakura continued to lecture. She spun on her heels and moved to her seat in front of Sasuke. 

"Are you happy? Are you satisfied?" Sakura asked haughtily.

"Seeing that smile wipe from that bastard's face was worth it," Naruto continued with an impish smile before begrudgingly unzipping his messenger bag. 

"So what's the punishment?"

"Ah, we have to wash the dinner dishes in the mess hall tonight."

"Serves you right!" Sakura continued with a flick of her hair. 

"But hey. Bright side. It means I can be out of my room past 7:00PM!" Naruto's smile returned and he flashed the peace sign at Sakura.

"Stop flashing peace signs! Don't act like you somehow _won_. A punishment is a punishment, and it probably means you'll stay on your curfew longer! Ever think of that? Of course not. Stupid."

"What are you guys talking about?" Sasuke asked suddenly. The curiosity was getting the better of him. There was too much mentioning of _Sai_. It was too much for his comfort. Especially now that Naruto and Sai had detention washing up dishes together. Alone. Naruto propped his head up with both hands and stuck his tongue out at Sakura clearly believing he was circumventing the system.

Sakura shifted in her seat so that she was sitting sideways in her chair, one arm resting on Sasuke's desk and her emerald eyes glaring directly at Naruto as she spoke to Sasuke. "For the second day in a row Naruto picked a fight with the new kid and now they both have to wash the dinner dishes tonight."

"Sai?" Sasuke asked. 

Naruto interrupted loudly placing both hands over his ears. "Don't say that bastard's name!" 

"He's been eating lunch with us. Well, _Ino_ has been inviting him to sit with us. He's very prickly and doesn't have a filter but he isn't all bad." Sakura concluded turning her attention from Naruto and facing Sasuke. 

"Don't believe a word she says, Sasuke. She probably thinks he's attractive just like Ino." Naruto cut in. Naruto's attention was focused on Sakura, and she rolled her eyes. She knew Naruto knew the only person she had eyes for was Sasuke. 

"Naruto. Sai's-" Sakura began to say that Sai was gay, but was interrupted by Kakashi entering the classroom.

"Sorry class. I got lost on the journey called life." Kakashi began in his monotonous voice. "I hope everybody has been paying attention in class, because today we're having a pop quiz." A collective groan cycled around the classroom as Kakashi began handing out the quiz.

*****

Naruto and Sai were standing side by side, hairnets on their heads, and rubber aprons tied around their torsos. Both looking out of place and ridiculous. Both watching very carefully, not wanting to miss anything, as the quintessential Lunch Lady demonstrated how to work the industrial dishwasher; pulling the shower head down and flipping a switch on with one hand. They watched as water blasted out at full force over the dirty silverware.

"You start by rinsing it off, and then you push it on the conveyor belt." She pushed it onto the moving belt and moved towards the end of the belt where she picked up the dish rack. "All dishes must go through twice, and then they are stacked on these wheels and wheeled into the backroom to dry." She picked up the rack and positioned it onto a four wheeled cart.

"Thanks to you two I can finally catch up on my Anne Rice book," she spoke with a loud laugh and a wiggle of her shoulders. "I'll check on you in an hour." With a wave of her hand she left them.

It was 8:00PM on a Friday night, dinner had just ended, and Naruto turned to stare at the racks and racks of dirty dishes stacked in front of him. Joy.

"Have you ever washed a dish in your life?" Sai asked mockingly. 

"What did you say?" Naruto asked jerking his head at the dark haired boy.

"You must have been pampered and waited on your entire life...right?" Sai continued with a sly smile. He had the ability to immediately get under Naruto's skin. 

Naruto hated when people found out he was the Hokage's son. Their perception of him completely changes. He was elevated and expected to act in a certain way. Some caricature of richness like what a homeless man vision of a rich man is and superimposed that onto him. No, Naruto did not willingly divulge this information of his parentage to new people. Their surnames were not the same so it was sometimes easy to fly under the radar, and pretend to just be another brick in the wall.

It was _bound_ to be revealed. One way or another. It was only a matter of time. The entire school was already whispering about him. Had been since his transfer. They called him a faggot. Faces pressed up against the fish tank of his life, and watching his every move, poised to attack, like starved gossip hounds. They called him the Yondaime's faggot son. He still heard his classmates whispering as he passed from class to class. However, Ino's loud and unfiltered mouth blabbed Naruto's connection to the Hokage to Sai today during their lunch hour. Sai made a remark. Something along the lines of ' _figures_ ', and Naruto lost it. 

"You obviously didn't come here on a scholarship, Sai. Considering merit scholarships are only given for the beginning of the year. Calling the kettle black? Do _you_ even know how to wash a dish? You come from money just like every other kid here. I can smell it on you. Hate to break it to you, but you smell like a powdered-wigged Benjamin Franklin just like the rest of us. So save your shitty preaching for someone else." Naruto explained viciously. He wasn't going to wear a mask with Sai. He was fitting to receive all the ugliness he had bottled up inside.

Sai snorted and moved to pick up a dirty rack. "Why don't you rinse, and I'll do the manual labor. Your arms look pretty weak. I wouldn't want the Yondaime's son to get injured."

Naruto threw his head back and laughed coldly as he moved towards the shower head. "You really are a bastard. I hope you slip and fall and bash your skull open." Naruto was developing a sick fascination with violence and bloodshed.

"Oh?" Sai feigned mock shock as he moved to pick up another dish rack. "Your father is nonviolent. Are you taking a radical stance? 'All conflict can be solved with violence. The sword is mightier than the pen?' You sound more like a member of the Uchiha Police Force." 

Naruto rolled his eyes and began rinsing the dishes and pushing them onto the conveyor belt scowling.

"You don't have many friends do you?" Naruto asked as Sai brought down another dirty dish rack for Naruto to rinse. "I wonder why that is...maybe it's your shit personality."

"I am just very choosy when it comes to friendships. It's better to have a few good quality friends than it is to have many superficial friends," Sai answered. Sai set down a dirty rack for Naruto to rinse off continuing, "Why bother being ostensibly _nice_ to everybody you meet? It gets exhausting, a waste of energy, and it's not worth my time."

Naruto rolled his eyes so much they became sore. He continued to rinse the dirty dishes. "It's called being a decent human being."

"That's the difference between you and me. You obviously want everybody you meet to like you, and so you'll wear whatever mask you need to wear so that will be accomplished. No matter how fake, cheap, and insincere you come off. Only then do you truly feel fulfilled, and I don't. You're kind of pathetic when you think about it."

Naruto still had the shower head in his hand and he pulled it so that it was angled at Sai. He flipped the switch with his thumb sending the high pressured water pulsating at Sai's face; soaking him immediately. 

"Sorry-sorry I figured I should cool you off! Wait are you saying you don't like me?" Naruto taunted as he flipped the switch off and the water stopped pouring out. Sai's hands moved to rub his eyes and he coughed. Naruto's touched his own chest with his hand and looked down at himself continuing, "And yet here I am...feeling fulfilled-"

Sai's hand immediately went to the shower head. He easily grabbed it from Naruto. He angled the shower head towards Naruto and flipped it on. Naruto was immediately drenched in freezing cold shower. He got water in his mouth and nose, and inhaled simultaneously, it sent him into a fit of coughing and gagging.

"You goddamn bastard, piece of shit-!" 

Naruto choked out as he moved his hands towards the shower head. He attempted to wrestle it from Sai. Somewhere in the scuffle the shower head was flipped on and water began pouring out on the tiled floor, as they both wrestled for control over the shower head. Whoever won would be victorious, and would be alpha. It was an unsaid rule between them. Lord of the Flies Konoha Preparatory edition. Naruto resorted to dirty tactics and shoved Sai in the chest. It was enough for Sai to lose his balance, tripping over a rolling cart that was behind his feet. Before he fell Sai grabbed hold of Naruto's right arm causing the blonde boy to crash down to the wet floor with him.

"Ah I see! You can dish it but you can't take it." Sai huffed as he grabbed hold of Naruto attempting to pin the boy to the ground, but Naruto was spry and maneuvered his body in attempts to pin Sai down. Sai still held onto Naruto's right arm.

Naruto moved to punch Sai in the face, but Sai was quicker and grabbed hold of his left wrist forcing his hand back and slamming it against the floor. Sharp pain erupted through Naruto's wrist and shot up his arm and down his spine. It had only been a week since the splint was removed. He wasn't fully healed yet. 

"Enough with your psych 101 bullshit, you don't know a damn thing about me!" Naruto yelled angrily as Sai successfully pinned Naruto to the floor. Sai's hands gripping both of Naruto's wrists and holding them to the ground. Body resting on top of Naruto's torso, pushing against his diaphragm.

"I didn't want to enroll in this school. Me being here was a political move." Sai said angrily. "And I don't want to deal with rich entitled assholes like you on a daily basis."

"Oh, and you think I want to be here?" Naruto gasped his body wiggling and contorting like a snake. "I went to a public school before I was forced to come here. I didn't want to enroll in this goddamn school. Try living my life for a week and then get back to me! Having your life completely planned out by every adult around you. Down to when you can and can't take a shit. I hate everything about this school and my life has been nothing but shit since I transferred, and pieces of shit like yourself aren't making it any easier on me!"

Sai stared down at Naruto who glared up at him. There was a darkness in his eyes. A spiral of hate and anger smoldering and eating away all the crystal blue in his eyes; leaving something deranged in it's wake. Both boys were soaking wet and water dripped down their faces. Freezing water chilling them to the bone, and turning their lips blue. The shower head continued to spray freezing water down onto the tiled floor, and it began pooling around Naruto's body who covered the drain; causing the blonde to shiver violently.

In that moment Sai was caught off guard. He stared too hard at Naruto, and loosened his hold as a result. The blonde jerked his wrist out from Sai's grasp and punched Sai in the jaw, before bucking the boy off of him. Sai lost his balance and fell to the side. Naruto was on top of him. He saw the opportunity and seized it. He slammed Sai's shoulders down with both hands. 

"There…you've finally showed true emotion." Sai spoke as he was pinned beneath the blonde boy. 

Naruto felt a warmness inside as he straddled Sai. He suddenly felt the urge to masturbate. Naruto needed sexual release, and needed it bad. Maybe he really had an addictive personality. Addicted to sex, addicted to drugs, addicted to people. Fucking pathetic. They should had the adjective of 'whorish' to his tagline on the rumor mill. He was the Yondaime's whorish, faggot son. 

"Maybe we have some common ground after all. We both hate this goddamn school." Naruto lamented. 

Sai smiled, and it was different from his other smiles. It was genuine and Naruto felt a smile spread his own lips.

"You win...now get off of me." Sai continued. He stopped struggling, and admitted defeat. 

Naruto hesitated staring at his face looking for any signs of betrayal. Finding none Naruto loosened his hold on Sai and pulled himself off. Standing up Naruto held his hand out to Sai. The other boy slapped his hand away and pulled himself up on his own.

"I said we may have a common ground, but that doesn't mean I want to be your friend."

"If you're going to be like that don't get up!" Naruto accused and shoved Sai back down. 

*****

Naruto shoved open the door to his dormitory room fuming. He was drenched from his head to his toes. He was shivering, and lips a frosted blue. He had to walk across the courtyard in below freezing temperatures sopping wet. Water dripped down his skin, and sloshed around in his loafers. 

"What happened to you?" Sasuke asked as he stared at his roommate who now resembled a drowned rat.

"That bastard Sai!" 

Naruto spoke between clenched teeth. Naruto kicked his shoes off in a tantrum, grabbed his towel before throwing it into the bathroom. He made his way to his dresser where he began pulling out articles of dry clean clothes at random. He grabbed his bath caddy and slammed the bathroom door closed behind him. Naruto's fingers moved the faucet all the way to the hottest degree.

After five minutes Naruto began feeling a tingling in his penis. His fingers moved around his organ. He was thinking of a lot of things. He was thinking of Sasuke's lips against his, of Sasuke's swollen cock inside his mouth, and of Sasuke's moans. His mind then wandered to Sai, who was drenched in freezing cold water and pinned beneath him...before his mind wandered to Haku...and the intoxicated combination of sex and Callisto when he was fucking Haku. All these perverse thoughts marinated in his sick mind as he masturbated in the shower. After he came, and his white semen ejaculated on his fingers his mind finally turned blank.

He found himself panting sitting on the shower floor the warm water rained down. Masturbating wasn't enough. He needed something more. Going from getting fucked and fucking every weekend for money, and suddenly stopping left his body raw and craving sex. Leaving him sexually aroused and overly sensitive. In that moment Naruto craved Callisto. He wanted another hit of Callisto. He thought about running across campus to Haku's dorm. He'd beg Haku to give him another hit. He pictured himself on his knees sucking Haku off until he gave in. He felt disgusted with himself and he began crying. Covering his face with his hands and sobbing.

Naruto waited the fifteen minutes until the feeling passed, and he calmed down, before exiting the shower. He dried himself off, put on pajamas, and exited the bathroom to find Sasuke was already in bed.

Naruto felt guilty for pushing Sasuke too much. Felt guilty for confessing his feelings to Sasuke. Felt guilty for wanting an answer so soon. What Naruto wanted more than anything else was for his mind to to stop thinking and his body to stop feeling. Naruto didn't have Callisto but he had klonopin. Naruto grabbed his klonopin prescription bottle. Dumping four pills into his palm, despite the prescription stating one pill at bedtime and chased the pills down with a gulp of his water.

Laying in bed his emotions were dysregulated and chaotic. He wanted to both cry, and scream, and break things, and have sex, and slam his head against the wall, and take a hit of Callisto, and jump out the window. Everything at once. The lights were off. Naruto thought maybe he could sleep tonight with the lights off. He didn't need the lights on when he had klonopin especially when he had taken four times the recommended dose. Naruto closed his eyes feeling the drowsy effects of the meds kicking in. 

"Naruto?" Sasuke's voice carried from across the room and sent chills down his spine.

"Mhm?"

"I'm sorry. Last night was a mistake. I regret it. I just want us to remain as friends, and nothing more."

' _Mistake_ '. ' _Regret_ '. ' _I'm sorry_ '. That isn't what Naruto wanted to hear at all. He didn't want to hear that Sasuke regretted it. Rejection was fine...but...but...hearing him say he regretted it was heartbreaking. 

"S'okay, S'ske. I said we can remain friends and it would be okay. Just don't-just don't go saying you regret it, because-because...that's not what I want to hear right now, you bastard."

Naruto covered his eyes with his arm, palm upright and fingers curling. He felt tears rolling down his face, and no matter how much he willed them to stop they kept pouring from an indescribable sadness that ripped apart his coronary artery.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke's voice cracked. It didn't make Naruto feel any better.

"S'okay, S'ske." Naruto murmured his words slurring as the klonopin began to take affect. Living was painful, and sometimes...sometimes he wanted to stop living. Naruto drifted off into oblivion and he didn't have to think or feel anymore.

*****

Sasuke couldn't sleep. A whirlwind of emotions clustered in painful pockets deep inside his stomach and gut. Sasuke had lied to Naruto...but he wanted to make it clear to Naruto that there was no hope for a relationship, and he did not want to lead Naruto on. Sasuke's reality, his world, wouldn't permit it. His father harbored deep seeded hatred for Namikaze Minato, for homosexuals, and Sasuke had finally began to get the acknowledgment needed from Fugaku.

Sasuke had to be careful around Naruto. Needed to keep him at arms length. In this emotional state he wouldn't have the strength to refuse Naruto. He wouldn't be able to refuse any request from Naruto. And that was dangerous...for somebody to have that much impact and control over his life. He was content to remain by Naruto's side the way they were. At least that was what he kept telling himself as night broke into daylight and sunlight filtered through parted curtains.

Pulling himself from his cold mattress Sasuke made his way to his sleeping blonde roommate. Naruto was sleeping on his back, his left arm over his face and blocking his eyes, chest slowly rising and falling, lips parted. Sasuke was a masochist. He wanted just one more kiss...one more kiss and he would be satisfied. Just like when they were ten years old Sasuke placed both arms on either side of the sleeping blonde and leaned down pressing his lips to Naruto's in a tender gentle kiss. And just like when he was ten Sasuke felt heat rising to his cheeks, and felt the same warmness slowly spreading through his body as if plunging into a hot spring.

However unlike the time when they were ten this time Naruto woke up. His arm moved away and bloodshot, blue, eyes fluttered opened just as Sasuke broke the kiss. 

"Sasuke? What are you doing?" Naruto asked pushing himself up just as Sasuke pulled back. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and suddenly he was fully awake. 

"Giving you a kiss goodbye..." Sasuke answered his face flushed with embarrassment, and dread, and remorse. He regretted ever leaving his bed. No, he regretted lying to Naruto in the first place and wanted to make amends.

"Pretty cheap since I was sleeping." 

"I--"

"If you're going to do it...do it right!" Naruto yelled impatiently.

Sasuke's body was moving on it's own. The god Pothos had possessed him. The feelings of lust and desire and yearning took hold. He complied with Naruto's request and placed both hands on the bed, and leaned over. He kissed Naruto gently. Naruto opened his mouth and Sasuke entered realizing Naruto wasn't going to be satisfied with a closed mouthed kiss. There was no hesitation or delay on Naruto's end. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck, and pulled the boy close to him. The kiss lengthened and Sasuke found his fingers running up Naruto's side. His fingers swept under his pajama top and glided against the smooth skin of his sides. Sasuke grabbed hold of Naruto and pulled him closer. So that the gap between their bodies dissipated. 

Sasuke astride Naruto broke the kiss leaving both boys panting and wanting more.


	24. Smells Like Teen Spirit

# Smells like Teen Spirit

 

The ides of March fell on a Sunday.

Naruto was jogging along the lake on the asphalt path. Dressed in an orange and white striped Adidas jogging outfit, and a pair of black high top Adidas sneakers. The last bits of ice on the lake were melting, and fog rolled off the lake and hung, thick, and heavy in the air. It was the beginning of the third week in March and all the snow had melted leaving the land saturated and muddy. There was a wetness that clung in the air. Even though temperatures hovered around fifty degrees Fahrenheit Naruto was saturated in sweat.

Everything was calm and serene. Winter was dead. Spring is here. A rebirth.

His curfew was lifted and his ability to leave campus came with stipulations. It left Naruto a bundle of nerves, and when Iruka told Naruto he ended up having a full blown panic attack in the boy's bathroom. Textbook symptoms. Experiencing heart palpitations, tunnel vision, trembling, sweating, nausea, dizziness, and hyperventilating. The last person Naruto wanted to find him in that state was Sai...and sure enough Sai appeared. Instead of ridiculing, Sai suggested that because Naruto looked so stressed he should go jogging with him...and so Naruto did.

"Yo." 

Naruto greeted the familiar boy with a nod of his head; maintaining his pace. Sai was dressed in a simple pair of jogger sweatpants and a zip-up hoodie. He began jogging alongside Naruto and the two fell into a comfortable speed.

"Do you own anything that isn't name brand? You must really like the color orange," Sai commented with a quirk of his eyebrow and Naruto rolled his eyes. 

"You're starting shit already, ya bastard?" Naruto asked and Sai snorted.

They continued jogging in silence around the lake. Naruto enjoyed this silence. It was comfortable and Naruto wasn't forced to make small talk to fill it. They rounded the bend and were nearing the bus stop next to the library when a dark shadowy mass appeared on the ground. Naruto focused his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity at the oddity. The closer they got the more clear the shadowy mass became until an outline of a human body was visible. It appeared as if somebody was sleeping, curled up on their side, their back facing Naruto and Sai. It was the most peculiar place to sleep.

Both teenagers were drawn towards the mass and they both stopped at the same time as if reaching an invisible barrier.

"Hey! Are you...okay?" Sai called out towards the unmoving kid underneath the bus sign. Too small to be an adult. 

Sai was the first to pass through the invisible barrier. Naruto stayed rooted and immediately registered what was happening. It felt as if Naruto was being slowly submerged in the murky cold lake water. Everything became muffled, his vision became blurry and distorted, his breathing stopped, and his eyes widened. He watched Sai bend over and grab the shoulder of the kid.

"SAI NO!" 

Naruto screamed just as Sai grabbed the shoulder and turned the body over. Naruto's knees gave out and he was falling backwards. Blue eyes unable to move from the face of the body. Imprinting the sight into his brain forever. 

It was a boy dressed haphazardly in the Konoha Preparatory school's uniform. The buttons were fashioned incorrectly, tie hastily knotted, and the belt thread through the belt loops but wasn't secured by the belt buckle. A gray, frothy, film covered dark brown eyes. It looked like a layer of bluish-grey mold was growing over his eyes. Dry cracked lips parted in a scream to reveal white pearly teeth. Cheeks were sunken in. The expression was terror stricken and painful. It rattled Naruto's soul. There was a gash along the throat, a serrated blade cut through muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and arteries. A dark stain of dried liquid pooled around the asphalt in a perfect circle.

The boy was unmistakably dead. It was the second time in his life Naruto saw a dead body. Only this time it was in high-definition, LED, crystal clear picture with surround sound.

Sai didn't seem to understand, didn't get the memo, too ignorant, and he began panicking. He grabbed hold of the wrist attempting to find a pulse. He leaned his ear toward the corpse's mouth and nose attempting to hear any signs of breathing. Sai pulled from his pocket his mobile phone and tossed it at Naruto who was paralyzed on the asphalt, holding himself up by his arms.

"Naruto call 911!" Sai commanded as he began doing chest compressions. 

"Sai...he's dead!"

Naruto's darkening vision went to the mobile phone at his feet and he shook his head back and forth.

"NO!" Sai screamed. "We can't make that decision...call 911...NOW, Naruto!"

The urgency in Sai's voice freed Naruto. He leaned over and grabbed the phone and pressed the home button, his thumb hitting the 'emergency' button where he began pressing 9-1-1. Naruto's mind filled with images of being restrained on the black matted board. The sound of skin slapping against skin. Juzo fucking him from behind. His asshole stretching and bleeding painfully. The feeling of the cold blade first pressing teasingly against the flesh of his neck, before the blade ripped his flesh forcibly apart.

"911, what's your emergency?" the dispatcher's voice answered. Naruto's vision turned red. Everything was bathed in blood.

"Hello, this is 911 please state your emergency," the dispatcher asked again this time with more clarity. Naruto's breath came out loud and raspy as his free hand moved to his neck. A finger trailing the faint scar. 

"Are you in need of assistance? Do you need medical attention?" the dispatcher asked her voice softening.

"Yes…" 

Naruto whispered his eyes focused on Sai doing chest compressions, and suddenly the body beneath Sai morphed...and he saw himself on the asphalt, his blue eyes open, his blood pouring from the neck gash. Haku appeared over him doing methodical chest compressions. Naruto's eyes widened. He was hallucinating. 

"...are you in need of police assistance?" the dispatcher asked. 

"I….yes…there's...we found...a body...we need help...please bring help! Please help us!" 

Naruto choked and suddenly he was ten years old holding the payphone to his ear explaining to dispatchers he had witnessed a shooting and to ' _please hurry_ ' because ' _I'm scared_ '! Naruto had transformed into his ten year old self, the mobile phone pressed against his ear, and he heard a familiar voice. A hallucination of Haku appeared standing alongside Sai and the bloating, rotting corpse of the boy. Haku was wearing the same soft, velvet, pink dress he wore when they visited the prison of stifling screams, and he called out Naruto's name.

' _You're going to regret it...you'll regret backing out now…Uzumaki Naruto_ ' Haku spoke coldly and a conniving smile spread his lips. ' _...I should have just left you bleeding out at the filthy bus stop._ '

Haku looked down at the corpse of the unknown boy and then back at Naruto. The smile cut his face in two like a snake unhinging it's jaw to swallow its prey. He walked closer and closer to Naruto, kneeled down, and tilted his head to the side, ' _Look what you did...this is all your fault. Come back to me and nobody else will get hurt._ ' Haku cupped Naruto's ten year old face, and pulled the boy closer, bringing his painted red lips down until he was kissing him. Haku forced his thumb into Naruto's mouth and it opened. A thick, wriggling, snake emerged from Haku's mouth and forced it's way into Naruto's mouth as Haku continued to forcefully kiss Naruto. The snake filled his mouth and dove down his throat. Choking him. It cut off his oxygen, his eyes bulged, and his vision was fading to black gagging on the snake. Naruto's eyes rolled into the back of his skull. 

"Naruto don't you dare pass out on me!" Sai yelled, but darkness greeted Naruto like an old friend.

*****

Naruto was seated at the edge of the metal chair, leg bobbing up and down, fingers gripping around the styrofoam cup of bitter black coffee. Left untouched. Only gripping it for the warmth it provided. He was at the Uchiha Police station and in one of the black interrogation rooms. The investigators left him alone after he gave them his statement. His first trip off the Konoha Preparatory campus after his curfew was lifted was a trip to the police station. Fucking perfect.

The door swung open and a familiar Anbu member appeared in a very familiar red and white kitsune mask. Shisui. Naruto knew who it was even before the man opened his mouth to speak. Recognized the pattern on the mask. 

"Feral child!" Shisui exclaimed as he shifted the kitsune mask to the side of his face revealing a set of white pearly teeth. "How I've missed you! Look at the mess you've gotten yourself into."

"Fuck off, Shisui...I have nothing to say to you," Naruto growled.

His month long break had instilled confidence and courage, and above all else, strength that he lacked before. This past month he had successfully detoxed from Callisto. And he was only feigning for the drug just a little bit. Even if he took one, or four, klonopin at night he wasn't deep-throating some guy's cock at the Twin Leaves hotel while some stranger fucked him hard from behind to get Callisto...so progress. 

"That's cute...you still think you have a choice," Shisui mocked. Shisui walked behind Naruto and wrapped his arms around the blonde boy bringing his head closer to his ear before dragging his wet tongue alongside Naruto's earlobe from the bottom up.

A shiver went down Naruto's spine and he tensed up. "You sick fuck...get off of me!"

"Remember...if you don't want your little secret to spread to your dearest friends you'll follow me willingly right now. I will not ask you again," Shisui whispered coldly in his ear.

Fuck...fuck...FUCK.

Naruto purposely knocked the styrofoam cup over and watched as black coffee spilled over the smooth metal table. What a perfect mess he made indeed.

*****

Naruto stuffed both hands in the pockets of his adidas zip-up jacket and leaned up against the brick wall. They were in an alleyway between a Flower Shop and a Hardware Store. Just another brick in the wall. Naruto closed his eyes, exhaling loudly, waiting for the inevitable.

"This goes without saying...the perpetrator who killed Ise Udon was the same perpetrator that left you hospitalized. Biwa Juzo. The curious thing about Udon was he was found dressed in the Preparatory school uniform when he attended public school. His student ID was in the pocket, almost as if Juzo wanted his identity known. That with his body being dumped on campus. It was probably a message to you. A message from Juzo. We're going to capture him...and we need your help. You help me with this and it'll be the last thing I ask of you."

Naruto opened his eyes and narrowed them into slits of icy blue, he glared at Shisui, absorbing the information the older man was disclosing. Naruto heard a distant voice from the recesses of his mind. It was the voice of Moegi as she spoke while sitting in the escalade, ' _Me, Udon, and Konohamaru were inseparable! Now it's just me and Udon._ ' 

"Yeah, and that's what you said last time. Why the fuck do you need me? Fucking arrest him already! I'm not doing anything else for you...go eat shit and die!"

"My sources say he already slipped back into hiding. You're the only one who survived a night with him. I'm sure if you make yourself ready and willing he'll come back to you. One more time, and they're won't be any more victims. One more time and I won't ask anything from you again. Just one more time."

Naruto pushed off the brick wall and began walking away, pulling his hands from his pocket he yelled, "Like I fucking would…that's what you said last time!"

Shisui called after Naruto, "Kazamatsuri Moegi and Ise Udon attended public school. The common thread that connected them...they were both involved with Yuki Haku. And my sources tell me Haku has targeted another boy. Sarutobi Konohamaru. You know him, right?"

Hook, line, and sinker. Naruto stopped abruptly. Naruto knew of Konohamaru. He was the grandson of the Sandaime, the Third Hokage. He was a couple years younger and attended Konoha Preparatory Boarding School. Their paths only crossed a few times. He was an innocent kid who lived in the shadow of the Sandaime, and treated as such. Naruto ran a hand through his hair and cursed. 

"You fucking piece of shit. I hope you one day rot in hell, and I hope I am the one to send you there."

"How many more victims are you willing to allow to fall victim before you do something?" Shisui taunted. Naruto seized up remembering the hallucination of Haku. 

"It'll all be your fault."

"...what do you want me to do?" Naruto asked his voice shaky.

"I want you to do your very best. And do whatever needs to be done to get back to The Manor." Shisui commented. "It's better you than someone else...right? Where's your heroic sense of justice, kid?"

Shisui walked up behind Naruto and slipped in the new smartphone model into the pocket of his zip-up orange jacket. Shisui slipped the kitsune mask back over his face and bowed.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, feral child."

*****

Naruto returned to his dormitory in the afternoon. He tossed his new prescription of klonopin on his desk. He pulled out his new cell phone. Naruto slide the bar to unlock the screen. Everything was re-downloaded from the cloud and restored. Naruto searched his contacts until he came to Haku. It took a while to gather the courage, and another twenty minutes to compose himself. 

' _Hi Haku. It's me Naruto._ ' Naruto typed into the text box before hitting send. He typed a follow up message. ' _I want to meet up._ '

Here Naruto was...crawling back. Naruto tossed the phone onto his bed, grabbed the prescription bottle, and popped three Klonopin into his mouth chasing it down with room temperature water. The door opened and Naruto turned around to see Sasuke; a worried expression on his features. Sasuke was dressed in an over-sized cardigan, and a pair of black slacks. He had that brooding angst ' _I don't give a fuck_ ' thing, and it turned Naruto on. He brought his eyes up to Sasuke's face. Word traveled fast around campus.

"Fuck, Naruto...I just heard. Are you okay?" Sasuke asked as he shut the door behind him. 

Naruto gave a small smile. Their relationship was a facade. Both pretended that nothing happened between them. Sasuke pretended he didn't have feelings for Naruto...and Naruto pretended he was over his feelings for Sasuke. It was awkward and painful, and becoming unbearable. Even if Naruto was becoming better at wearing masks, and hiding his true feelings. It still hurt. It was still painful. Especially since he was well aware of what Sasuke really wanted. 

"I wasn't alone. Sai was with me, and, I didn't know the kid or anything. So I was kinda removed from the situation." Naruto explained poorly and he held up the orange prescription bottle, "'Sides, I'll feel fine when these take affect. S'okay, S'ske."

Naruto accepted the boy's death automatically it was Sai who refused to come to terms with the reality for so long. Sasuke pulled Naruto into a hug and it broke Naruto's heart being this close to Sasuke and he froze, unable to do anything but breathe. Naruto remained still and unmoving as Sasuke continued to hug him. The warmth from Sasuke's body felt good, calmed him. He breathed in Sasuke's scent. Naruto's phone began to vibrate, and he pushed Sasuke away; moving to pick it up.

"You finally got a phone?" Sasuke asked as he watched his blonde roommate. 

"Yeah. Same number." Naruto spoke shifting his eyes to the message he received.

' _Are you able to leave the campus?_ ' Haku asked in his text message. Naruto hesitated but typed back, ' _Yeah._ '

"...do you want to talk about it? Want to order Ramen?" Sasuke asked as he glanced at the phone in Naruto's hands wondering who he was texting. 

"No." Naruto deadpanned. He had lost his appetite the moment Sai rolled over the rotting corpse.

' _Come to my dorm, now._ ' Haku answered as his phone vibrated.

"Sorry, I have to go." Naruto answered stuffing his phone into the pocket. 

"Where are you going?"

"Haku's." 

"What? Why? You broke up with him!" Sasuke stepped in front of Naruto preventing him from leaving.

"Because I just need to forget what happened."

Naruto shifted his eyes away from Sasuke's accusatory stare. A thought occurred. A sly smile spread his lips. Naruto pressed himself up against Sasuke. His slender fingers wrapping themselves around Sasuke's neck. He pulled himself close to Sasuke, his body up against his, and whispered into his ear.

"...unless _you_ wanted to help me forget."

Sasuke froze up and for a moment ceased to exist, mind blank, breathing stopping, heart suspending. As if somebody clicked the pause button on his life. Sasuke wanted to and he was on the verge of wrapping Naruto in his arms and kissing him. Except. There was a darkness in Sasuke that was born when Naruto mentioned Haku's name. He was angry with Naruto for choosing to go to Haku...for crawling back to Haku. So he didn't.

"Yeah. I didn't think so. We all have different coping mechanisms. So let me use mine." 

Naruto sensed Sasuke's answer. He pulled himself from Sasuke and headed towards the door. Leaving Sasuke trembling, and confused, and angry, and aroused as the door slammed shut.

*****

Haku opened the door and stared inquisitively at Naruto, as if he was shocked that he actually came. After a few moments he opened the door to allow Naruto passage.

"It's been over a month." Haku spoke the obvious as he shut and locked the single occupancy dormitory door. "I heard you found his body. It was a shame that he bled out."

Naruto turned to stare at Haku. The boy was dressed in the same pink, velvet, dress he was in on Valentine's Day. He purposely wore it just to psychologically fuck with his head. Haku had a black double cloth choker on. Painted red lips. His hair was just as silky as the last time they met. It was the same Haku from his hallucination and Naruto had to question reality. There was no doubt in Naruto's mind that everything Shisui said about Haku was true. 

"Look what you did." Haku spoke coldly. "I told you that you'd regret leaving. There would be someone else to replace you, and now they're dead, is that why you're here?"

"Fuck...Haku. What do you want from me?"

"I want you back. You're the only one I want."

Naruto stared at Haku. He remembered the first time they met. It was at the park in his ninth grade year, during the Cherry Blossom Festival in April. Naruto had mistaken Haku for a girl. They spoke so easily with one another. There was something about Haku that was enthralling. The smile. The charisma. Everything perfectly entrapped him. Naruto spent the entire festive with Haku. When they parted Haku told Naruto he was a boy. Naruto felt something inside...something that told him it was okay if Haku was a boy...and that maybe it was okay if he was attracted to Haku. Okay to be attracted to boys.

By chance, or maybe by design, Naruto met Haku again over summer break. It was after Minato informed Naruto that he was enrolled in Konoha Preparatory school and he left the home angrily. Walking alone in the park at night he ran into Haku. There was a bruise on Haku's face. Brownish and yellowish and ugly. Naruto stayed with Haku until morning came, and before they parted Haku kissed Naruto. It was a kiss that solidified his sexuality, and Naruto kissed Haku back anxiously.

Their third meeting was when Naruto ran into Haku on campus. Naruto was ditching his English class. He was too upset to be in the same class as Sasuke. Haku was also ditching class. Naruto found himself in the boys locker room with Haku and getting his first blowjob.

Naruto thought back to all their chance encounters and wondered if instead it was precisely calculated, or if it was by sheer coincidence. There were some feelings on Naruto's behalf that he still felt for Haku...despite it being distorted and corrupt. They still lingered.

"I want you to leave Konohamaru alone." Naruto demanded. There was a purpose for Naruto's visit.

"...and what will I get if I do?" Haku asked his head tilting to the side. 

"Me." 

Naruto grabbed hold of Haku's chin, lifted it up, and pressed his lips to his. Even though a month had passed the pleasure and ecstasy was still etched in Naruto's head. Like riding a bike, everything came back. He barely had to think his body just reacted. Even if Naruto just wanted Haku to stop...wanted Zabuza to stop...wanted Juzo to stop...everything came rushing back. Naruto was sexually aroused he needed a release. Masturbating in the shower wasn't enough. He needed more. He just wanted to forget everything and feel nothing but pleasure.

*****

Naruto didn't need love to flip the switch up. Although he probably should...maybe God fucked it up.

Naruto was thrusting deep into Haku's anus bareback, stretching him. He enjoyed topping. It made him feel powerful. The other boy's face was flushed with pink and animated into pure euphoria. Naruto's cock was hitting Haku's prostrate gland causing the other boy to moan out loudly like a bitch in heat. Haku's legs wrapped around his torso holding tightly onto him. Haku's fingernails dug into the back of Naruto's shoulder blades. The feeling of his nails dragging down his back, breaking skin, with each thrust felt good. A used bottle of lubricate lay forgotten next to them on top of Haku's mattress. Beaded sweat rolled off his flesh. It felt like pressure was welling up in the chamber of the gun, the bullet was about to be released, and as soon as Naruto ejaculated his vision became white with pleasure; the bullet exploded from it's chamber.

He was spent and pulled his limp cock from Haku, and watched as white semen dripped out of his asshole. The effects of the Callisto mixed with the klonopin left him delirious, and the world looked fuzzy, and felt warm. Like a hug. Naruto rolled onto his back alongside Haku on the cum stained twin sized mattress. Naruto told himself it was going to be okay...entering this world again...it was going to be okay because he was just going to stay for a little while. Just like Alice when she went through the mirror and back into Wonderland. Naruto would talk to the hookah smoking caterpillar, he'd chase the white rabbit, and he'll bow to the Red Queen.

Just for a little while…

*****

Naruto came back to the dorm around 7:00PM that Sunday night. He dragged his sore body into the scolding temperatures of the shower washing himself with soap, over and over and over again. Three times just to make sure. Washing the scent and touch of Haku off his skin. He watched when he turned the water off all remnants of Haku wash down the drain and into the sewer. He was coming down from the high of Callisto and klonopin and it left him empty and devastated. The emptiness had returned and it had only grown larger. 

The blonde spent an hour in the shower, and when he exited it was 8:00PM. Dressed in polyester pajamas Naruto grabbed his orange prescription bottle making moves to uncap the child proof cap when a loud banging noise erupted from the other side of the dormitory door.

"NARUTO?" It was Sakura's desperate voice. Naruto hesitated. He placed the prescription bottle back into his desk, unopened, and instead opened the door. Sakura nearly tackled Naruto into a hug causing him to stumble backwards.

Sasuke walked up behind Sakura and exhaled, "Sakura…what are you doing here?"

Sakura glanced at Sasuke and let go of Naruto; side stepping so Sasuke could enter the room. He dropped his school bag down on his desk. 

"Sai told me your curfew was lifted," Sakura spoke her eyebrows raising. 

"Your curfew is lifted?" Sasuke asked spinning around to stare at Naruto. It was the first he was hearing of it, and anger welled inside, as once again Naruto went to somebody else instead of him. 

Naruto shrugged rubbing his left shoulder with his right hand. "Something like that…"

"Hey! So tomorrow. How about the three of us ditch class?" Sakura asked her emerald eyes shifting from Sasuke to Naruto. "Let's spend it in Konoha. We'll eat breakfast, play laser tag, and go to the movies!"

"Huh?" Naruto asked shifting nervously from one foot to the other. "I don't have any money."

"I got you covered. So say you'll do it. Please?" Sakura asked as she clasped both hands together and brought them up to her chest. She bounced up and down on her feet. 

Naruto broke out into a warm smile and rubbed his nose with his thumb; giving in. "Okay! I was planning on ditching anyways!"

Sakura turned her attention to Sasuke who had busied himself getting his shower caddy, and getting his pajamas ready.

"Sasuke?" 

The dark-haired boy looked from Sakura's features, which had a pleading expression, to Naruto who appeared apprehensive. He rolled his eyes exhaling before closing himself in the bathroom, "Fine."

"We'll slip out before first bell, okay? Bye-bye! Sleep well!" 

Sakura left the room, shutting the door behind her. Maybe Naruto could balance it better this time around. Both worlds. The seedy dark underworld, and the bright sunshine world Sakura's and Sasuke's shared. Naruto knew it was inevitable. He was going to place the Callisto tabs back under his tongue...needing it to cope with what he knew he had to do. Sure he told himself it was just going to be that one time with Haku earlier in the day...but he was already beginning to crave Callisto...and he knew the world that came with the drug.

Until then…Naruto popped four Klonopin pills into his mouth and swallowed.

*****

"Naruto are you awake?" 

Sasuke asked in the dark. He rolled over to his side. He wanted to ask about Haku...wanted to ask what Naruto and Haku did. Wanted to ask if they were back together. He wanted to know Naruto's relationship with Sai...and why they were spending so much time together. The jealousy was turning him mad. He needed answers. Sasuke jumped out of his skin when he saw Naruto's outline standing besides his bed. Appearing like a goddamn apparition. He exhaled and began calming himself down. 

"Sasuke. Let me sleep with you tonight. Please." 

Naruto whispered. There was fear and trepidation in his voice. A hard lump formed in the back of Sasuke's throat. Everything he wanted to ask Naruto dwindled down into nothing but embers. He wordlessly moved over, and pulled the comforter back to allow Naruto entrance. The blonde crawled into bed, and Sasuke brought the comforter back down covering them both up.

"Thank you." Naruto whispered. "Don't worry. I won't do anything weird. I just need to be close to you, S'ske."

Sasuke swallowed and instinctively wrapped his arms around Naruto. He regretted allowing Naruto to leave the dormitory. The blonde moved closer until his face was buried into Sasuke's chest. Naruto's body felt hot and Sasuke continued to hold him close. They slept like that in silence. Undisturbed. The warmness of Sasuke's body mixed with the effects of the klonopin created a protective barrier that shielded Naruto from the night terrors. The warmness of Naruto's body and closeness enveloped Sasuke into a state of calmness and contentedness; and he slept without another worry clinging to Naruto throughout the night.


	25. All My Friends Are In Love With Satan

# All my Friends are in Love with Satan

 

Sasuke woke up in the morning to find himself intertwined with his blonde roommate. Once again he had crawled into his bed and Sasuke allowed it, and embraced it. Naruto was curled around Sasuke, a palm resting on Sasuke's chest, and his head resting on Sasuke's shoulder. He wanted this blonde boy by his side at all times, and only then did he feel at peace. He took hold of Naruto's palm and brought it to his lips where he kissed the life line thankful that Naruto was born. 

It was this action that caused Naruto to stir and a loud yawn escaped his lips consciousness coming back to his voice, "S'ske...g'mornin'…"

Sasuke let go of Naruto's palm as the other boy rolled over onto his back. Their limbs began separating one by one. Naruto's palm went to rub his eyes as he sat up moving his legs over the edge of the bed. He brought his bare feet to the cold floorboards. He waited there for a moment yawning. Naruto was about to leave again...he was going to leave Sasuke's bed. Sasuke grabbed hold of Naruto's wrist just as he was standing up and moving away. 

"Mmh?" Naruto asked as he turned around, sleepy eyes looking down at Sasuke's hand grabbing his wrist tightly. Watching with sleepy eyed confusion as Sasuke was pulling him back down. He lost his balance and was falling back down to Sasuke's bed.

"S'ske…?" Naruto spoke but was interrupted when Sasuke pressed his lips to Naruto's. Sasuke ooh'd Naruto's mouth open, and embraced Naruto's tongue with his own. Sasuke released his hold on Naruto's thin wrist and brought both hands to either side of Naruto's face, pulling the blonde back down into the bed with him. It was a good morning kiss. 

"Mnm...mhn...nhg..." 

Naruto moaned as he fell on top of his roommate, and he fervently kissed Sasuke back. In one fluid movement Sasuke spun the blonde around and pinned him down on the bed. How easy it was to kiss him back. How effortless. Like it was always suppose to be. Coming slowly to his senses Naruto pulled away from Sasuke. A thick trail of saliva connected their mouths. Naruto's face was flushed with pink and his eyes bewildered. He stared up at Sasuke's equally flushed face. Sasuke was being cruel. He was teasing Naruto in the cruelest of ways. 

Sasuke _knew_ Naruto wanted him in the worst possible way...and Naruto...he finally woke up. 

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked angrily. Both hands moved to shove Sasuke back. Sasuke moved off Naruto, and the other boy rolled away. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed and he turned around to give Sasuke an accusatory glare. Naruto pulled himself up and practically jumped across the room hiding the erection that was forming in his pajama bottoms. 

"I'm sorry…" Sasuke exhaled breathlessly. He was lying. He wasn't sorry he just didn't know what else to say. His eyes glanced to Naruto's pajamas bottoms and he tried to hide his smile. 

"Don't look!" Naruto accused as he trailed his eyes to where Sasuke's eyes were drawn to. 

"Let's spend the day together...without Sakura." Sasuke changed the topic.

"For fucksake Sasuke. What are you talking about?" Naruto asked as he backed up even further. His voice angry and defensive. Naruto didn't give Sasuke a chance to answer before saying, "Shut up and get dressed, we're meeting Sakura!" 

Sasuke sat upright on his bed watching Naruto gather up clothing before scooting into the bathroom. It didn't make sense what he was doing...all he knew was it felt right...felt good. Sasuke had everything to lose with his relationship with Naruto. His relationship with his father. His relationship with his mother. His reputation. Moving from platonic friendship to romantic intimacy...was detrimental. Sasuke rolled back on to his back and cursed. ' _What the fuck am I doing?_ '

*****

Sasuke stepped off the city bus in downtown Konoha wearing street clothes. The temperature was around fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit causing him to wear a loose fitting, long-sleeve, navy, sweater over a button-up starch collar shirt.

Naruto was in a fowl mood, wearing ray-ban sunglasses, a three-quarter zip pullover, a pair of jeans, and a pair of Toms on his feet. Sasuke was watching Naruto, looking him up and down, wondering when he started caring about name brand clothing, and dressing nicely. It didn't suit him. Not one bit. He was trying too hard...too hard to be somebody he wasn't. Naruto caught Sasuke staring at him and he turned away scowling. 

Sakura was looking anxiously between Naruto and Sasuke. The air was uneasy between them and she felt it. 

"Hey...what's wrong with you two?" Sakura asked. Sakura was wearing a crimson dress, white cardigan, and wore a gold chained purse. Sasuke began walking towards the coffee shop with a roll of his eyes.

"Ask Sasuke." Naruto fumed folding his arms and planting his feet on the sidewalk.

"Naruto is back together with Haku." Sasuke answered loudly over his shoulder.

"WHAT! Is that true?!" Sakura yelled turning her attention to Naruto whose face turned the color of a beat red tomato. 

"NO!" Naruto growled between clenched teeth. Hating the fact that Sasuke brought up Haku's name. It had nothing to do with Haku and all to do with Sasuke kissing him this morning. 

"Naruto! Ugh! Let's just get some coffee…" Sakura spoke losing her patience and giving up. Obviously upset with Naruto. She caught up and matched her pace with Sasuke's throwing Naruto a disappointed look before turning back around. Naruto threw both hands behind his head and trailed behind them dragging his feet.

*****

Sasuke sat across from Naruto and next to Sakura at the coffee shop watching as the blonde avoided his eyes.

"Naruto...break up with Haku," Sakura spoke hesitantly and shifted her attention out the window. Sasuke listened in silence agreeing with everything Sakura said in solidarity. Naruto leaned back in his chair staring at the mug of caramel macchiato in front of him, slender fingers gripping the floral mug. He paused. Naruto looked from Sakura to Sasuke. Speaking moreso to Sasuke than to Sakura. 

"I said we're not dating, okay? So drop it!"

"Okay…" Sakura answered with a nod of her head although not believing Naruto in the least bit. She shifted her eyes towards Sasuke, and then back to Naruto. 

"It's just…"

"Why are you obsessed with who I'm with anyways? Why don't we talk about your love life, or how about Sasuke's love life?" Naruto interrupted as he leaned back over the cafe table. He propped his head up with his hand. The anger bubbled to the surface like an erupting volcano and he harnessed it. He turned his attention to Sasuke and smiled coldly. He looked to Sasuke's lips. To his eyes. The inky blackness of deep space Naruto wanted to explore.

"What about you Sasuke…" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head. He wanted somebody else in the hot seat and who was a more perfect contestant than Sasuke? 

"Who is it that you like? Go ahead tell Sakura." Naruto continued when all he got was stubborn silence.

"Sasuke..you like someone?" Sakura asked jerking her attention to Sasuke. There was a yearning a jealousy in her voice and though she tried to hide it she couldn't. She had been lovesick since she was five years old.

"I do...But they're in a relationship with someone I dislike." Sasuke spoke in his matter-of-fact voice. He gave a nonchalant shrug as if it didn't matter either way. He grabbed his own floral mug of green tea and brought it to his lips. Eyes closed. Drinking the warm liquid. Naruto watched Sasuke's Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed. Inadvertently causing him to swallow as well. He didn't know what Sasuke wanted. Did he want Naruto or did he kiss him on a whim?

Sasuke opened his eyes and stared directly at Naruto who looked away nervously his cheeks inflamed with embarrassment. 

"Tsk." Naruto answered.

"Who is it, Sasuke?!" Sakura asked desperately. 

"It's a secret."

"Well...I'm sure whoever it is if you confessed your feelings they'll accept them." Sakura said her voice saturated with an emotion more than sadness...with forlorn. Pitifully sad and abandoned.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Sakura. You see the person Sasuke is referring to well they already confessed their feelings to Sasuke, and well he already rejected them," Naruto spoke bringing the mug to his lips and staring at Sasuke. Challenging him to prove him wrong. He didn't. Naruto continued. "So I find it kind of funny that Sasuke is saying all of this...now."

Sakura was feeling it again the same feeling she felt in the library when they were completing their presentation on the _Picture of Dorian Gray_. Her existence was ignored, and she faded away until she was nothing more than part of the background. A wallflower. Irrelevant to the story. A secondary character to help move the plot forward. It felt like she shouldn't be listening to their conversation. Like it was something private. There were subtle undertones and it was splitting Sakura apart. She didn't want to put the puzzle pieces together even though she knew deep in her heart what they were talking about. She wanted to feign ignorance a little longer. She didn't want to admit that Naruto was a rival and she was losing.

"Maybe if they just thought about the situation a little better they would have realized just what it meant...for both sides...and what position I am in!" Sasuke answered bitterly.

"Oh yeah! We wouldn't want to disappointment daddy now would we, Sasuke?" Naruto fired back. Sasuke slammed his hands on the table and shoved himself back, getting up, and walking towards the bathroom. Naruto rolled his eyes and jumped out of his chair following the dark-haired boy into the bathroom. He wasn't finished talking.

*****

"What the fuck was that about Sasuke." Naruto yelled as he slammed the door shut behind them. It was a single stall bathroom, and Naruto locked the door guaranteeing privacy. Sasuke was leaning over the white porcelain sink both hands gripping the edge.

"This morning with that kiss and now that conversation…Answer me!" 

"I don't know!" Sasuke yelled back.

"Do you...like me?" Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't answer. "It's a simple yes or no!" Naruto snapped angrily. Sasuke straightened up and faced Naruto. 

"Yes…yes I do. More than anything."

It was all he wanted to hear. Naruto was pulling Sasuke into an embrace his lips finding Sasuke's lips so easily. The familiarity of the kiss was so comforting. Their bodies fit so perfectly together as if they were cut from the same stone, and melded back together. Sasuke slammed Naruto up against the locked bathroom door deepening the kiss. Naruto's fingers found themselves underneath Sasuke's shirt and his fingertips brushed the soft flesh of his shoulder blades. Digging his nails into Sasuke's skin and dragging down wanting to leave marks.

Sasuke moaned into Naruto's mouth as they continued making out up against the bathroom door. Sasuke's fingers went to Naruto's torso his fingers gliding over Naruto's hip bones and pulling him closer to him. He wanted to melt into Naruto and disappear into the blonde boy. Wanted to feel the warmth and heat of Naruto's skin against his skin. Sasuke broke away the kiss and moved his lips to Naruto's neck. He wanted to explore Naruto's body with his lips...wanted to kiss every inch of Naruto and erase Haku's presence. Wanted to fill every inch of Naruto's mind with thoughts of himself...and only of him.

"Mnh...Ah!" Naruto moaned as Sasuke found the sensitive spot on his neck, and it sent shivers up and down Sasuke's spine. Sasuke was hard and erect and he pressed his erection against Naruto's own hard cock...barriers of jeans between them. Fuck! He wanted to do things with Naruto and it was driving him crazy.

"S'ske…I want you too." Naruto moaned and Sasuke brought his lips back to Naruto's. Saliva being swapped between their mouths. Tongues hungry for one another. The intoxication was coming back. It was before noon and Sasuke was already drunk. Naruto pushed Sasuke up against the bathroom door, and dropped to his knees. His fingers went to Sasuke's pants to unbutton and unzip. Pulling both his pants and boxers down revealing Sasuke's erect cock. Naruto took him in his mouth again. 

"Naruto...not....here..." Sasuke breathed hoarsely. His voice was weak, and his vision blurred. He made no move to stop him as Naruto continued to deep throat him. Sasuke's fingers went to Naruto's head and he combed them through his silky blonde hair. Sasuke was panting and for the second time he ejaculated into Naruto's mouth. 

"I can keep a secret...S'ske…" Naruto whispered as he broke away his breathing heavy and erratic. A lewd expression on his features. Licking his lips. It was turning Sasuke on again. "Just...promise me...promise me. That later you won't say you regret it."

"I promise." Sasuke whispered as bent down to Naruto's eye level. He brought his lips back to Naruto's and sealed the contract with a kiss.

*****

Naruto's mood improved and the tension between Sasuke and himself dissolved when they emerged from the bathroom. Sakura smiled nervously when they returned. A forced smile. Her empty mug sat untouched on the table, arms resting in her lap, and she twisted the napkin around anxiously.

"Everything...okay...now?" Sakura asked already regretting not leaving and returning to campus. She had felt more and more like the third wheel. Naruto shrugged and grabbed his floral coffee mug bringing the cold liquid to his lips. Sasuke looked away and didn't answer.

It was decided they would catch a dollar movie at The Palace Movie Theater. It was a small theater that continuously showed old classics throughout the day. They were able to catch the showing of _A Place in the Sun_ , a film about a handsome man from the lower class who becomes involved with two women, one from the upper class, and one of the lower class. The movie theater was empty except for the trio. It was 10:00AM on a Monday morning after all. Naruto and Sasuke sat side by side. Both leaned towards each other. 

Halfway through the movie Sakura whispered. "I'm going to the bathroom...I'll be right back…"

Naruto's fingers immediately went to Sasuke's hand, and he thread his fingers interlacing them with Sasuke's and gently held his hand. It amazed Naruto how perfectly their hands fit with one another. Sasuke willingly allowed this display of affection without hesitation. His cold hand warming as it held Naruto's burning palm. Naruto glanced around the theater ensuring they were alone before pulling Sasuke in for another kiss, which Sasuke graciously accepted and kissed back. Sasuke's hold on Naruto's hand was tight and heavy and he didn't want Naruto to let go. 

"Naruto…" Sasuke whispered against Naruto's lips. 

"Shh...just don't think...thinking only causes problems…" 

He leaned back in his seat releasing Sasuke's hand. Sasuke's face was flushed and he leaned back in his chair staring at his hand. It was left cold and tingly. It didn't feel right. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab Naruto's hand. To thread his fingers back with his. But he didn't. Couldn't. Eyes moved back to the movie screen. Trying to focus his attention on the movie and not on Naruto sitting beside him.

Sakura returned and sat alongside Naruto. "What did I miss?"

"George just drowned Alice." Naruto whispered causing Sasuke to lean over and interject. "He didn't drown her...she just fell into the waters."

"Yeah well he didn't exactly help her either." Naruto whispered back. "Implied murder."

"Implied murder isn't a thing, usuratonkachi." Sasuke answered. 

Naruto laughed. "Well, he didn't get help and just kinda rowed back to land. So what do you call it, bastard?"

"He's guilty of culpable negligence. Failing to do something which resulted in the injury or death of someone else."

"Ah. That's a fancy term. Do you want to be an attorney or something?" Naruto asked leaning closer to Sasuke. Bridging the gap between their bodies and staring into his eyes.

"Whatever I choose to do will be more honorable than whatever you choose to do usuratonkachi."

"You bastard." Naruto breathed. There was a lewd smile on his lips, and he was inches from Sasuke's face. It caused Sasuke's face to blossom in reds, and he was forced to turn away from the blonde and the blinding light that was being emitted. Naruto won. He laughed and turned to Sakura.

"It doesn't matter because he gets charged with murder and sentenced to prison." Naruto leaned back in his seat.

"What! Spoilers much?" Sakura yelled trying to ignore the tension being emitted between Naruto and Sasuke by being overly dramatic.

"Maybe he shouldn't be two timing two girls at once." Sasuke answered wanting to recapture Naruto's attention. Naruto burst out laughing and Sasuke joined him. My-oh-my how his laughter was contagious. Sakura forced her own laughter wanting to join in but realized she was forgotten once more. 

*****

After the movie it was decided they were going to play laser tag. Naruto fit the sensor sling over his right shoulder and torso watching as Sakura positioned the sensor around her waist. The sensor had a total of four circles, two in the front and two in the back. They will light up upon being activated. Sakura looked up at Naruto and flashed the peace sign.

"What color are you choosing, Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he folded his sunglasses over his pullover. The shades rested in the center of his chest.

Sasuke picked up the blue laser gun and held it up. "Blue." Naruto smirked and grabbed the orange laser gun. "Orange."

Sakura looked from Naruto to Sasuke, and reached for the red laser gun holding it up as her other hand rested on her hip. "Guess that leaves me with Red. Why don't we make this game a little more interesting and place some stakes on it?"

"Cutting class, and now gambling? What's gotten into you?" Naruto asked turning to face Sakura a smirk on his lips. She rolled her eyes.

Sakura shifted her weight to one foot, her hip jutting out. She brought the laser gun up and rested the barrel of the gun on her shoulder. "Lets say the winner gets to request something from the two losers." She then pointed the barrel of the gun at Naruto and pulled the trigger.

"Oh. I see." Naruto said with a raise of his eyebrows. "I want to add that the two losers should treat the winner out to dinner...like Ichiraku Ramen. Better bring your daddy's credit card because I eat a lot." 

"Don't go assuming you're going to be victorious, Naruto." Sakura spoke rolling her eyes.

"Fine. But it should be ranked by points. The one in last place should treat the other two to a meal. The one in second place should do whatever request the one in first place makes." Sasuke added the final stipulations. He moved the blue laser gun around with his left hand, calculating if he won he would not only get a free meal but the chance of making Naruto owe him a request. That thought pleased him. 

"Deal!"

There was a large digital clock on the wall counting down from thirty seconds. There were three separate doors, and they each stood in front of their door corresponding with their color. 

"See ya out on the battlefield." Naruto spoke with a salute as a loud buzzer rang and the doors unlocked.

*****

It took a moment for Sasuke's eyes to adjust to the darkness and ultraviolet lighting. He pressed his back up against the wall and crouched low peering around the corner. He didn't hear any movement, and he hadn't seen either Naruto or Sakura for the first five minutes of the game. Sasuke looked across the way to see a bright red stripe going across another wall. He infiltrated Sakura's domain. She was the easiest target to gain points he surmised.

Sasuke pushed off the wall and moved towards the red stripped wall. His sensor lit up and vibrated against his chest.

"You were left wide open." Naruto laughed and Sasuke turned around to see Naruto was shooting him from a small platform suspended in the air. He was struck again. His senor lit up and vibrated.

"Naruto!" 

Sasuke growled as he pointed his laser gun at Naruto, and pulled the trigger, but Naruto was already ducking and running down the platform. Sasuke followed the platform with his eyes, finding the stairs that led up. He quickly took the steps two and three at a time, but by the time he got up on the platform Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke ran down the platform his eyes trailing down when he saw Sakura emerging from behind a wall, laser gun out, and she was pulling the trigger.

"Naruto you bastard!" Sakura yelled as she ran after the blonde who had jumped behind a wall. Sasuke was panicking if Naruto already scored points on Sakura and Sasuke it meant that he was winning. He wasn't going to let that happen. 

"Sakura!" Sasuke called as he leapt down from the platform. She turned around finger resting on the trigger barrel of the gun pointing shakily at him. She wouldn't pull the trigger and Sasuke was going to use this to his advantage. 

"Team up with me." Sasuke said as he held up his hands in a treaty.

"Okay!" Sakura agreed.

Sasuke and Sakura pressed their backs against the wall breathing slowly. Trying not to make any sounds. 

"There's an upper level." Sakura whispered. "That's where my door lead me too...I should have known that Naruto had this layout memorized. I forgot he and Kiba went here all the time in ninth grade. He'd always try to get Ino and I to go..ah~I should have listened." Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. It was the year he transferred to Konoha Preparatory School. No wonder Naruto was so good. He wanted to win more than ever. 

"Sakura...you're going to be the bait." Sasuke whispered as he leaned over and disclosed his strategy.

"Whatcha guys talking about?" Naruto asked as he pulled the trigger and hit both Sakura and Sasuke in their sensors. The blonde was upside down, Spider-Man style, holding on to the railing of the platform with his legs, and aiming precisely with the gun. Sasuke pushed Sakura to the side and held his gun out firing at the sensor on Naruto's chest, hitting it, and lighting it up. Finally. 

Naruto flipped over and landed on his feet, crouched low to the ground protecting his sensor. Naruto gun aimed at Sasuke, but then moved the barrel of the gun to the right and pulled the trigger hitting Sakura instantly on the sensor around her waist. He laughed figuring out their plan.

"For my first course I think I'll have Shoyu Ramen extra pork, Sakura." Naruto spoke lightheartedly. Sasuke pulled the trigger three more times hitting Naruto while he was distracted.

The blonde spun around, and began running in the opposite direction. Sasuke was close behind, the blonde zig-zagged, like a gazelle, moving from the red wall territory into the blue wall territory. Into Sasuke's territory. Big mistake. Sasuke could sense it...his movements. Where he was going, and where he was going to end up. Could practically see it all unfolding. Sasuke watched the blonde run forward, and he moved his body to the right, running down the corridor. Knowing full well where Naruto was going to end up. Sasuke jumped out just as Naruto was running by, catching the blonde, and tackling him to the ground.

"Oof!" Naruto gasped as his body collided with the ground, face down. Sasuke on top of him pinning him down. Sasuke held his gun up to the sensor on Naruto's back and fired, once, twice, three, four, five times. He didn't stop. Wanted to ensure his victory.

"Ah! No fair!"

Naruto wiggled and rolled over onto his back so that Sasuke was straddling him. Sasuke's cock pressing up against Naruto's. A sly smile spread Naruto's face. Sasuke's heartbeat quickened. His face turning bright red. Thankful for the darkness of the arena. Naruto held up his laser gun and pulled the trigger. Lighting Sasuke's sensor up the vibration echoed through both Sasuke and Naruto's bodies. Sasuke dropped his laser gun and grabbed hold of Naruto's wrist. He slammed Naruto's wrist up above his head on the cold tiled floor before leaning down and kissed Naruto. The kiss turned wet and warm. For a moment Sasuke forgot that they were playing laser tag, and everything around him vanished.

Naruto was more experienced than Sasuke. The way his tongue maneuvered against Sasuke's in a sophisticated dance was evident. A thought occurred to Sasuke. Naruto wasn't a virgin anymore. It was something he sensed...something he could smell. Sasuke's thoughts turned viciously to Haku, and he kissed Naruto harder, gripping Naruto's wrist so tightly, his nails dug into the boy's flesh making crescent shape wounds on his skin. A small cry escaped Naruto's lips, but he didn't loosen his grip. Sasuke's other hand went to Naruto's crotch where he could feel the bulge against his jeans, and he began to massage the bulge causing Naruto's body to shudder in anticipation. The kiss turned wetter and the blonde arched his back. Sasuke wanted to feel all of Naruto raw. 

White light flooded the arena followed by the sound of a foghorn signifying their time was over. They only payed for one round. Sasuke pulled away and stood up picking up his blue laser gun just as Sakura appeared. "You guys suck you know that!"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stood in front of the leadership boards. First place was Sasuke. Second place was Naruto...and coming in third place was Sakura. She hung her head low and her shoulders sagged.

"S'okay, Sakura...cheer up!" Naruto spoke beaming. His smile spread from ear to ear. He swung his arm over her shoulder, and pulled her in close. "I'm a cheap date I just want Ichiraku Ramen. I'll only order 4 or 5 bowls of ramen. Honest."

"I want prime rib and lobster." Sasuke spoke. His tastes were more refined and expensive. Sakura groaned loudly as she held out her wallet and looked at what little bills she had left. "Let's rain check on the prime rib and lobster until after I get my birthday money."

*****

"So you've decided on Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto?" Sakura sulked as she stepped on the city bus heading back to Konoha Preparatory School.

"Hmmm..." Naruto spoke as he grabbed the silver bar and positioned his weight so it rested evenly on both feet. "We need to be smart about this we don't want to waste this opportunity. Right, Sasuke?"

"I want prime rib and lobster."

Sakura hung her head low and groaned again. She peeked through her pastel pink hair to look at Sasuke who was standing on the other side of her. She wondered if she could convince Sasuke to get dinner with just the two of them...wanting to phrase it so it would just be them, alone, on a date. The only other time she was alone with just Sasuke was when he invited her to the library's cafe, but it was to discuss Naruto. Even on Naruto's birthday when she invited Sasuke to the party Kiba had thrown. He came...but it was because Naruto was there. Sakura thought back to the party. She had managed to stay by Sasuke's side the entire time he was there, but conversation was strained, and the only time he spoke was when they were discussing Naruto.

Every other time Sakura invited Sasuke to do something he declined...unless it involved Naruto. Then he agreed. It wasn't a coincidence. Sakura was trying hard to pretend it wasn't the case. Sakura glanced at Naruto who was smiling and humming along to the song on radio. He was obvious. He didn't even have to try to capture Sasuke's attention. It was infuriating. She was trying so hard.

Sakura loved Naruto. He was one of her best friends, but she had dark thoughts. Sometimes she wanted Naruto and Sasuke to stop being friends. She regretted trying to mend their relationship in the beginning of the school year. She had distorted thinking. If Naruto and Sasuke were no longer friends then maybe...just maybe she could become closer to Sasuke. With Naruto out of the picture, and removed from Sasuke's heart there would be room for her. Right? She immediately felt disgusted with herself. It didn't stop her racing mind and dark thoughts of 'what if'.

"Naruto." Sakura spoke turning her attention to Naruto. "I forgot to tell you. Sai was looking for you. He really wanted to meet up with you. He said it was important." She had lied.

A darkness crossed Naruto's features the happiness left him and a memory of yesterday flashed across his eyes. "Sai? Yeah. I'll find him when we get back to campus. I've been meaning to talk to him."

Sakura felt Sasuke shift next to her, and she didn't have to turn around to sense Sasuke was staring at Naruto. He was always looking at Naruto, and only Naruto...never looking at her. 

"Naruto, you and Sai have been spending a lot of time together." Sakura continued trying to act as natural as she could. She wanted to drive a wedge between Naruto and Sasuke. 

Naruto shrugged and turned his attention back out the window. "Not really."

"Jogging every morning together...is spending a lot of time together." Sakura revealed and she felt it again. Sasuke shifting. "I like Sai, and I think you and Sai would make a good couple. Don't you think so Sasuke?" Sasuke's jaw clenched and his grip tightened around the bar.

"What are you talking about, Sakura?" Naruto asked turning to face her. "Sai's gay." She answered. Naruto's mouth fell open, and he blinked before recovering and shook his head.

"You do know that I'm not attracted to every guy just because they're gay, right?" Naruto spoke a hint of irritation in his voice, and he unconsciously moved his body away from Sakura.

Sakura smiled. "That's exactly what Sai said too."

*****

Naruto was the first to exit the bus when it stopped outside the campus library. It was after 4:00PM, classes were over. Sakura followed and trailing behind was Sasuke.

"You're going to find Sai, right?" Sakura asked. It also sounded more like a command.

"Yeah...I'll see you guys later!" Naruto called as he waved his hand in the air. 

"Do you even know where he is at this time?" Sakura yelled after Naruto. He turned around, jogging backwards and yelled back. "Something like that." Before spinning around and continuing to jog away.

Sakura turned to look at Sasuke. She looked at how tense he was, and saw the muscles in his jaw flexing as he clenched his teeth. She knew what she was doing. Everything was calculated. She just wanted to become close to Sasuke...closer than Naruto was...closer than Naruto ever would be. Pairing Naruto up with someone else was the best option.

"I think Naruto and Sai would make a good couple, and I think it would be the push Naruto needs to finally break things off with Haku." Sakura spoke. "Don't you think so, Sasuke?"

"Hn." 

Sasuke exasperated. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and began walking away. Sakura turned back to see Naruto jogging down the asphalt path towards the lake. She walked alongside Sasuke as he made his way back toward the dormitories sans Naruto.


	26. Tortures of the Damned

# Tortures of the Damned

 

Naruto made his way down the asphalt path that lead to the lake. Due to industrial waste and large corporations dumping chemicals into the waters, unchecked for years, it killed the aquatic life. Swimming was outlawed. Under the Namikaze administration environmental stipulations were established and there were initiatives and grants to clean the lake. It was still years before the lake was inhabitable. The lake was just like everything else in Konoha. A cesspool.

Naruto scanned the path around the lake looking for any signs of Sai. Instead of finding Sai he saw another familiar face. Konohamaru was standing by the large oak tree speaking with Haku. Naruto was standing at a crossroad. The best course of action would have been to take the asphalt path back to campus, back to Cypress Hall, and back to Sasuke waiting in their shared dormitory. Instead. Naruto took the asphalt path that lead to the two boys speaking under the large oak tree by the cesspool.

The blonde stuffed his hands into the pocket of his three-quarter zip-up pullover. The closer he got the clearer the image began and the more he narrowed in on the little details of Konohamaru. The younger boy was acting erratic, scratching the skin on his neck, pacing side to side, and his voice was high-pitched and unhinged. Konohamaru was going through withdrawal. It was a familiar sight that caused his skin to crawl in recognition. Naruto picked up on every single sign, because he lived through it and only months before was crawling to Haku in the dead of his own withdrawals begging for one more hit. In that moment Naruto's skin itched and he craved Callisto, but had the wherewithal to be stronger than that and he shook off those feelings. 

"Fucksake's, Haku. What did I tell you!" Naruto growled and Haku turned around. His face apathetic as he looked at the blonde who stormed over and interrupted them.

"N-Naruto!" Konohamaru asked his eyes wide and glassy. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto looked Konohamaru up and down. The other boy had long spiky hair, and youthful eyes. Dark earth-kissed eyes that were holding secrets. Only he was inexperienced to hold onto those secrets for long. Soon they'll come tumbling from his lips. His uniform was wrinkled, buttons not fastened properly, and there was a tear on the seam of his sweater. Konohamaru was fourteen. Barely a teenager. And already a complete irreparable mess. Naruto wondered if this was what he looked like in the beginning.

"What are you coming off of?" Naruto asked not bothering to hide the disgust with his voice. Konohamaru turned away, but Naruto grabbed onto his arm and jerked him back so that Naruto could look him in his face.

Konohamaru shrugged and spoke apprehensively. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Tell me Konohamaru...have you gone to the Tree Leaves Hotel?" Naruto asked as he moved closer. Konohamaru's eyes grew wider and more fearful at the implication of Naruto's words. ' _Thought so._ ' Naruto thought bitterly. It felt as if he had bitten into baker's chocolate. Bitter and hard to swallow. The smell and appearance was a lie. Haku caught another victim in his black widow's web. 

"Leave now Konohamaru." Naruto growled and he shoved the other boy away. Konohamaru stumbled backwards, pivoted, and jogged away. Naruto rounded on Haku. He grabbed a fistful of Haku's shirt and jerked him close until he was inches away from his face. Voice low and deep. 

"I told you to leave him alone."

Haku shrugged a small smile spreading his pale pink lips. "I only said I'd leave him alone if you took his place...and well...you haven't held up your side of the bargain. So why should I hold up mine?"

"You know I thought you were a victim, Haku. Now I see you for who you really are. Just a Zabuza clone. Pimping out kids and collecting your cut." Naruto answered coldly and he shoved Haku back. The teenager in front of him was a predator. A wolf in sheepskin. Luring the children down the alleyway with false pretenses before devouring them. Cannibalizing them one by one.

Haku laughed and exhaled sharply through his nose. "That's cute. Wasn't it you who came to me begging me to help you get money when daddy cut you off? _You're_ the master manipulator, Naruto. You try to hide behind a smiling mask among your friends. But in the back of your mind all you can think about is Callisto, in the back of your mind you know you missed the sex...the power...the money and the Tree Leaves hotel."

"What? You're sick!" 

"You're a cheap and nasty fake." Haku answered. "...and I can see right through you. Why else are you here right now? Besides wanting a cock and a hit of Callisto?"

The emptiness in Naruto had gotten larger and he tried filling it with Sasuke, but it wasn't enough...it wouldn't be enough...it would never be enough. Because there was something broken inside Naruto. It was the indisputable fact. The emptiness was within him. Naruto felt it on every single level. Including the cellular level. There was truth to Haku's words, and it frightened him. Naruto felt it when the Callisto was in his body it filled him. The emptiness was being filled in. Naruto felt it when he was in the Tree Leaves Hotel. When every orifice was being filled with a cock. Thrusting. The emptiness was being filled in. Naruto felt it when his body was being rocked with orgasm after orgasm. The emptiness was filled. The emptiness was gone. Naruto was filled completely and to the brim. In that moment he was truly and thoroughly satisfied. 

...and when he stopped it left him gaping and raw and empty. Naruto wasn't the hero of this story...and maybe he was never supposed to be. Naruto wanted another hit of Callisto and he wanted to cum, and the only one who was able to give him what he wanted was Haku. The pink cloud syndrome was dangerous, because when the feelings of invincibility dissipated and he came back down to earth...he was still addicted to Callisto. The cycle repeated. Just one more hit to forget absolutely everything he had experienced and to be transmitted into oblivion. 

"Let's go back to your dorm." Naruto said sealing his fate.

*****

"This Friday night." Haku demanded as Naruto grabbed hold of the door handle. Naruto wanted to leave and return to his dormitory. Fingers brushed against the brass handle and the blonde answered. "Same time? I just have to be back by eleven for curfew." "Mhm." Naruto snorted. Wouldn't Shisui be proud.

Naruto breathed in the night air. He stretched his arms out and spun around exhaling. Every molecule was vibrating. The drug highlighted the reward pathway in his brain. So every time his synapses fired it was pure euphoria bathing his brain in a sea of serotonin and dopamine. The blonde was moving back towards Cypress Hall feeling the effects of Callisto lighting him up from the inside out. He felt no pain. Only pleasure.

When Naruto returned to his dormitory the room was dark and Sasuke was already sleeping. The blonde began stripping his clothes and leaving them were they fell. The blonde crawled into bed alongside Sasuke curling up around him. The intrusion began to wake Sasuke from his slumber. Naruto's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he stared at his dark-haired roommate. If Naruto was the sun then Sasuke was the moon. They complemented each other so perfectly. Naruto was flirting with death. Teetering on the precipice. He wanted to tell Sasuke what he did with Haku. It wouldn't be enough. The blonde wished that Sasuke was enough for him. The blonde wished the life Minato wanted for him was enough. The blonde wished his friends were enough...it wasn't...it would never be enough.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked with a yawn. His eyes fluttering open to see Naruto laying besides him. 

"Mhm." Naruto answered. His eyes the size of the moon.

"Where did you go?" Sasuke asked as he rolled to his side to come face to face with the blonde.

"I got lost...on the way here." Naruto whispered.

"Don't get lost again." 

Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto and pulled him close. Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke, feeling the warmth of the other boy envelope him. Naruto clung tightly to Sasuke. He didn't want Sasuke to let go of him. Sasuke seemed to have other things in mind and he began kissing Naruto. First his cheek then his jawline and moved to Naruto's neck. Fingers glided over Naruto's exposed flesh. Down his chest and abdomen, and then up his back and across his spine. He was practically naked except for the boxer briefs he wore. Sasuke continued to suck on the sensitive spot on Naruto's neck and the blonde let a moan escape his lips.

"What are you..." 

Naruto began but Sasuke covered his mouth with his hand. He didn't want Naruto to ruin the moment. He finally had Naruto all to himself. They were finally alone and uninterrupted. Sasuke pulled back his hand once he gained Naruto's silence. He began kissing Naruto's mouth. Sasuke's hand went to Naruto's crotch and he began rubbing the outside of Naruto's boxer briefs. He felt it move beneath his fingers. Felt his penis engorge with blood at his touch. Like a monument in the park. Hard and erect. Naruto moaned into Sasuke's mouth. It was exactly what he wanted to hear. 

Sasuke broke away from Naruto's lips and pulled his briefs off with both hands. Sasuke scanned the fully naked Naruto over memorizing the sight. From Naruto's flushed and lewd expression to his bare chest, to his raging erection, all the way to his thighs and calves. He wanted all of him, all at once. Sasuke wrapped his fingers around Naruto's cock. He was unsure, and inexperienced, and just wanted to make Naruto feel good. Naruto could tell and wrapped his fingers around Sasuke's and began leading Sasuke's hand. Up and down his erect penis. 

The feelings he had for Sasuke were probably the closest thing that could come to filling the emptiness within him. It wasn't enough. Just a temporary fix. But...fuck...he didn't want this moment to end. Naruto pushed himself up and began kissing Sasuke. He took the lead from Sasuke, and began peeling the clothes off his roommate. Until they were both naked, exposed, and raw. Naruto spit on his palm, and pressed his cock up against Sasuke's, before bringing the saliva soaked palm over both penises. Holding them both Naruto began to jerk both of them in tempo with a song only they could hear. 

Naruto didn't stop not even when they both ejaculated onto Naruto's hand. 

"You're still hard." Naruto commented as he prodded Sasuke's erection. Naruto lifted his fingers which dripped in a mixture of both their semen. 

"Let me make you feel good in a different way..." 

Sasuke was panting and he couldn't take his eyes off Naruto. He was exotic. A woodland nymph. Something out of the male fantasy. Naruto kissed Sasuke slowly and gently before posing Sasuke to that he was on all fours, with Naruto positioned behind him. Sasuke felt weak and complied. Naruto inserted a finger into his anus and it caused Sasuke to shudder. Sasuke could feel their mixture of semen as lubricant inside him, and there was a squelching noise as Naruto moved his finger slowly in and out of Sasuke. 

"This...hurts...nhg-ah." Sasuke gasped. 

"Just bear with it...I promise it'll feel good." 

Naruto whispered in Sasuke's ear, and then gently bit his earlobe. It sent a shiver down Sasuke's spine and he gasped loosening up. He continued stretching Sasuke's anus until he fit two fingers in. Sasuke's entire body became hot and when he opened his mouth he felt saliva roll off his tongue and fall to his bed in one long string. He felt sweat forming on his skin as his body reacted so sensitively to Naruto. He moved both fingers inside Sasuke's cavity until he found it. The prostrate gland. Sasuke shuddered and tried to remove himself from Naruto. He wouldn't let him move and he wrapped his arm around Sasuke with his free hand and grabbed hold of his penis. 

"Naruto...don't I'm...going to cum!"

"Good...cum for me S'ske."

Naruto continued to massage his prostrate gland while simultaneously jacking Sasuke off. It left Sasuke's inside all scrambled and crazy. His vision blurred and things turned white. It felt as if cannons were exploding all around him. It felt like he was watching fireworks going off at a festival. It felt like he was at a concert and standing right next to the speakers. It felt like he was in the eye of a storm. Everything bubbled up. Sasuke came again. It was intense and it was blinding and it left him weak. He collapsed. 

Sasuke reached out and pulled Naruto down with him. Their naked bodies intertwined on the wet fluids that soaked the sheets. Sasuke was still panting and he wrapped both of his arms around Naruto. Oxytocin the cuddle drug was released into his bloodstream and all he wanted was to hold Naruto.

*****

The first thing he noticed that something was...off was the bump on his penis. He felt it when he urinated in the morning. His finger moved over it and he looked down. It was firm, round, and painless. It looked like a pimple on his shaft right below the head. He didn't think much of it. He tried to pop it but it became painful, his eyes watered, and he stopped. Shrugged it off as the skin on the shaft became irritated with all the foreplay. He washed himself up and carried on with getting ready for classes. But then...

It happened again.

Sasuke's vision blurred and a sharp pain erupted from behind the back of his eyes. The pain started out as a dull throbbing pain that wouldn't go away and only increased in magnitude with each passing second. Sasuke brought his palm to his right eye and pressed against his closed eye, wincing, as the pain overpowered every other sense. The light became unbearable and he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes.

"Sasuke are you okay?" 

Karin asked. She sounded distance and muffled despite being right next to him. Sasuke leaned against the wall. Sweat began beading at his temples and across his forehead. His breath came out in sharp breaths. His stomach churned and he felt nauseous. He felt weakness. As if all his life force was being slowly drained. Sasuke's vision went completely black. He felt weightless for a moment like his body was floating in the air then a whooshing sound came and he felt his body collapse backwards.

"SASUKE!" Karin screamed. It sounded like she was screaming into the opening of the well as Sasuke fell down down down to the bottom. Sasuke felt sharp pain erupt through his skull before consciousness began leaving him sense by sense. It wasn't water that greeted him at the bottom of the well it was concrete.

*****

Sasuke became aware even before he opened his eyes. He felt sharp pain on the back of his head, his neck felt sore, and he felt a tingling in his fingertips. Sasuke opened his eyes and was greeted by blinding white light. It caused him to grimace in pain and immediately shut his eyes. He felt nauseous. The world began to spin and then stop. 

"Sasuke!" Karin spoke breathlessly. "How are you feeling?"

"Hn." 

Sasuke groaned and he shifted against the hard cot in the nurse's office. Sasuke peeked through his eyelids testing his sight. It was less painful. Sasuke saw the green curtains were pulled around him giving him privacy. Karin was seated on a chair pulled up to the cot, her hands wrapped tightly around Sasuke's hand. No wonder he couldn't feel his fingertips. The blood supply was cut off she held on so tightly.

He pulled his hand from Karin's deathlock grasp, and pushed himself into a seated position. He opened his eyes again slowly this time.

"Careful! You hit your head!" Karin spoke her hands going to Sasuke's head and a throbbing pain erupted as Karin touched the back of his head.

Sasuke moved his hands to the back of his head, to where the source of the pain was pulsating. He touched the bandages and his hand brushed up against a nasty bump on the back of his skull. Sasuke remembered he had fainted while walking in the corridor between classes. He was plunged into a state of utter embarrassment. He collapsed back down to the cot covering his eyes with his arms. Wondering how many people saw him fainting. He was mortified. He could hear the endless teasing that was sure to ensue.

The school nurse appeared having heard Sasuke's arousal. She exclaimed that she needed to give him a physical exam and sent Karin to wait outside. Sasuke threw his legs over the side of the bed and rested his feet on the floor readying himself. The nurse fitted the stethoscope into her ears and began the examination. 

"So what seems to be the problem?" the nurse asked. 

Sasuke shrugged. Thinking to the pimple on his penis he blushed. He couldn't tell her that instead he focused on his other symptoms. It was inevitable. He couldn't hide it forever. Especially when they got to the 'turn your head and cough' part of the examination. He wanted nothing more than to disappear. 

*****

"I'm okay...Karin." Sasuke mumbled as he walked across the courtyard. The redhead made no moves to dislodge herself from him. The nurse recommended Sasuke go for additional testing. She said this after she examined his penis and pimple. Although she told him his migraines, and now fainting spells, were concerning. Sasuke said he was fine, and left the nurses office against medical advice. Karin had wrapped an arm around Sasuke, and escorted him back to his dormitory.

"You should follow through with the testing, Sasuke," Karin lectured.

"Hn." 

He felt weak and thought if Karin wasn't helping him he wouldn't have been able to carry his own weight. The nurse said he was experiencing a migraine. It was only a migraine. No need to make a big fuss over things. Sasuke felt angry that he was in the nurse's office on the cot, under observation, to see if he had any signs of a concussion. She told him he was probably experiencing a cold. The migraine was the initial sign. She took some blood samples and sent it to the labs. Just to make sure he was in tip-top condition and there wasn't anything underlying his fainting spell. He missed classes, and missed lunch and it was after 6:00PM when he was released. He felt too weak to go to dinner and decided to rest in his bed.

Sasuke opened the door to his room and Karin helped him into a seated position on his bed. Naruto wasn't there. The blonde had been coming back later and later every night this week. It was Thursday night. Nothing sexual happened. Not even a kiss since Monday night. Just innocent sleeping besides each other. Sasuke only saw Naruto in the form of him crawling into bed with him. Naruto rebuked his advances stating he didn't want to do anything except sleep. It irritated Sasuke...and it left Sasuke wanting more. Now he just wanted Naruto to hold him. He felt fucking awful. He wouldn't do anything sexual with Naruto especially since he had a pimple on his penis. He wanted Naruto to take care of him. 

"You feel hot. I think you have a fever. Maybe we should go back to the nurse's office." Karin spoke as she held the back of her hand to Sasuke's forehead. He groaned and began peeling his pants and shirt off. He did feel hot, and his throat felt scratchy and it was difficult to breathe. His eyes glanced to his roommates side of the room. He wanted Karin to leave but felt too weak to even form words. He used all his energy crossing the campus. 

"I'll get you some water, and medicine!" Karin spoke and she vanished. Sasuke began pulling on silky pajamas. The fabric felt cool against his burning flesh. Sasuke collapsed onto his bed and began drifting off into a delirious sleep.

*****

"Sasuke?" Karin asked as she sat on the edge of Sasuke's bed. The dark-haired boy opened his eyes, and Karin blushed immediately at Sasuke's expression. His inky black orbs reflected the milky way galaxy. They were hooded, his face was flushed pink, and sweat rolled down the side of his face. He was vulnerable. He was giving her a forbidden expression. To Karin he was irresistible.

Karin had medicine and a glass of water in hand. She helped Sasuke take the medicine, and held the glass as Sasuke swallowed. She watched his Adam's apple bob up and down. Her heartbeat quickened.

"Sasuke." Karin whispered as she brought her face close to Sasuke. 

"Naruto...usuratonkachi. Where have you been?" 

Sasuke whispered as he pulled Karin close to him and kissed her on the lips. Karin's mind went blank as the kissed deepened. Her mouth opened and Sasuke's tongue entered. Karin kissed Sasuke back desperately. Her mind trying to recode what Sasuke said. Warmness and euphoria filled her body and soon she was drowning. She forgot how to breathe. Forgot how to do anything except kiss. Karin felt warmness and wetness secrete from between her legs, and make a mess out of her underwear. This was perfect and exactly like her fantasies. She loved Sasuke so much. 

The dormitory door swung open and Naruto appeared. He paused and looked at the scene that unfurled in front of him. 

"Oh….am I interrupting something?" Naruto asked in a state of complete shock.

It was Karin who broke the kiss at the sound of Naruto's voice. Anger and furry took over Karin's body...no...wrath consumed her. Her blood red eyes turned into slits at the appearance of Naruto. She wasn't mistaken. Sasuke called out Naruto's name before kissing her. Naruto was corrupting Sasuke. Karin knew it. Naruto was sick and vile, an abomination, and he lived in sin. Naruto was already infecting Sasuke and soon would bring him down into the mud, and and blood, and the filth that Naruto rolled around in on a daily basis. Sasuke had closed his eyes and fell back down into a delirious sleep.

"Look. I wouldn't care and would leave ya'll alone, y'know, but Iruka is doing bed checks. So if I were you I'd leave." Naruto spoke as he looked over his shoulder and down the corridor. 

Karin stormed out of the dorm purposely hitting Naruto's shoulder as she passed. Karin had to do something...had to physically remove Naruto from Sasuke's life. It was the only way she was going to save Sasuke. The only way she can save Sasuke and rescue him from this vile, wretched, faggot.

*****

Naruto, dressed in his pajamas leaned over Sasuke's sleeping form. He placed a cool washcloth on his forehead. It caused Sasuke to open his eyes to see Naruto pulling back. Instead of climbing into bed Naruto was moving towards his bed. It infuriated Sasuke. Now he was deciding to not even sleep alongside him? Sasuke pulled himself up the washcloth dropping into his lap. He felt delirious. 

"Naruto!"

"Yes?" 

Naruto jumped out of his skin just as he crawled into his bed. He turned around to see Sasuke scowling at him. His face was pink and clammy. His hair wet with perspiration, and beads of sweat rolled down his face. He was panting. The fever took hold of Sasuke. 

"I need you. I need you to hold me." Sasuke demanded. He felt weak. It hurt to talk. It took too much effort to form a clear and concise sentence. He had to. He had to make Naruto understand. And it worked. Naruto's face softened, and he turned around and came back to Sasuke. He slipped under the comforter and wrapped an arm around Sasuke. Naruto placed the cool washcloth back on Sasuke's forehead and continued to hold him. 

"Don't leave me...stay by my side forever."

"Okay." 

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."


	27. In the End

# In the End

 

_Friday night a little after ten thirty._

"Hi...Shisui?" Naruto whispered. His breathing came out heavy and erratic. He brought the cell phone receiver to his ear with his left hand as Shisui answered. "It's me...Naruto. I just wanted to let you know. I did it. I did my very best."

"What did you do?"

"I'm at the Twin Leaves Hotel...and...I...I...killed Zabuza."

"Naruto?" Shisui yelled incredulously trying to grapple with Naruto's words. "What did you say?"

Naruto winced and adjusted his positioning up against the kitchen island. His blue eyes shifted to the gun shot wound on his right shoulder looking at the gaping hole of blood, and muscle, and bone, and cartilage. It didn't look real. Naruto turned his attention to Haku kneeling on the tiled floor, crying, as he held onto Zabuza's lifeless body. It didn't look real. There was a bullet hole through Zabuza's right eye. It perfectly matched the one in Naruto's shoulder. The bullet had blown away Zabuza's eye, shattered his eye socket, burrowed through his brain, and exploded out the back of his skull. He had done it. Naruto pulled the trigger. Naruto looked at the blood and brain matter splattered across the kitchen wall. A Jackson Pollock oozing down the wall. 

It didn't look real and yet it was. The smell of blood, gun powder, semen, urine. The pulsating pain that erupted from every inch of his body. He tried to describe his pain using the pain scale. He was at a level 10. ' _I can't move due to my pain. I need someone to take me to the emergency room to get help for my pain._ ' The complete disarray of the kitchen. This was real life, and there was no escape.

"NARUTO!" Shisui screamed and Naruto shifted his eyes lazily back to the cell phone. He had forgotten he had called Shisui. He was tired. He closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep.

"I already called 911." Naruto spoke softly his words slurring. He was so tired. He just wanted to rest his eyes for a little while. "I just thought you should know...Juzo is also here. So do what you promised you'd do...and come arrest him already."

Shisui was in the single-stall employee bathroom down at City Hall. He wasn't going to make it in time. He had to notify Minato. Before he could say another word he heard muffled speaking, two gunshots, and then absolute silence as the call disconnected.

*****

_Let's rewind to earlier in the day._

Naruto was leaning over Sasuke pressing his hand to the other boy's forehead. The fever had broken and Sasuke went from a delirious sleep where he tossed and turned, painfully moaning, and sweating profusely; to a deep, dreamless, sleep where he laid, unmoving, on his back. Peaceful.

"So dramatic." 

Naruto mumbled as he pulled away from Sasuke. It wasn't until Sasuke began to relax did Naruto find himself beginning to relax. Naruto didn't realize how tightly wound up he had become with nerves and anxiety until he began to come undone. He looked at the digital clock on his desk, he had missed morning classes, opting to stay to look over Sasuke. He debated attending afternoon classes, or skipping. He didn't have to debate for long as a loud knock erupted from the other side of his door. Opening it up Naruto found Sakura wearing the school uniform and holding the strap of her messenger bag in her hand.

"Sakura...hi." Naruto spoke as he swung the door open.

"Why weren't you in morning classes?" Sakura asked suspiciously her eyes looking past him and into the room. 

There was something about her tone that Naruto didn't like. It rubbed him the wrong way. Nonetheless he shifted back to allow Sakura entrance into the bedroom. Maybe he was just being paranoid. A side effect from the cocaine he had been supplementing this past week when Haku ran out of Callisto. 

"Sasuke?" Sakura spoke as she went to his side. 

"Yeah...he's sick. I was taking care of him." 

"I heard Sasuke collapsed in the hallway yesterday. I thought he was still at the nurse's office." 

"He was here by the time I came back last night." 

"I can stay with him...if you want to go to class." Sakura spoke softly and Naruto shrugged. He didn't particularly want to attend class especially not if Sakura and Sasuke weren't going to be there. Maybe it was the excuse he needed to ditch afternoon class and hop on the next bus to downtown Konoha.

"Okay sounds good!" Naruto spoke with a smile and salute. Naruto spun around, grabbed his coat, his school bag, and headed towards the door stopping momentarily to say.

"I have some business in Konoha tonight. I'll be back before curfew so why don't you stay here with Sasuke until then?"

Sakura was already sitting at the edge of Sasuke's bed her fingers brushed the dark locks out of Sasuke's eyes. Her emerald eyes committing the sleeping expression of Sasuke to memory. She was barely listening to what Naruto was saying until the very end of his sentence and she perked up.

"What? Oh...Okay! Yeah! Of course." Sakura spoke turning to see Naruto leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

*****

_Friday night 6:55PM._

Sasuke was running through pitch black nothingness. He couldn't see before him, behind him, or all around him. The only thing he could feel was his bare feet running against the ground that had an inch of water covering it. The only thing he could hear was the slap-slapping of his feet striking against the watery asphalt. He heard a gunshot and he jerked his head towards the sound. A street light appeared and illuminated a perimeter of pale yellow light down on the wet asphalt. There he saw the body of ten year old Naruto on his knees, bent forwards and shaking violently. Sasuke ran towards him, understanding he had been searching for Naruto this whole time. 

"Naruto!" Sasuke called out as he slid onto his knees and touched Naruto's shoulder. The blonde looked up his face contorted into pain, gripping his right shoulder with his left hand. Blood red began pouring down Naruto's right arm and pooled around them. The wet asphalt staining with Naruto's blood. 

"What happened?" Sasuke shouted. He had reverted to his ten year old self. Before Naruto could speak Sasuke heard another gunshot and this time it struck Naruto in the forehead and he fell backwards. Beautiful too blue eyes rolled into the back of his skull leaving only the whites of his eyes visible. Sasuke's eyes grew wider, his pupils shrank, as he watched the life rescind from Naruto. He stretched his arms out to catch Naruto before he fell but the blonde spontaneously combusted into ash and dust just as he wrapped his arms around him. 

"NARUTO!" Sasuke screamed as he sat upright in bed. His eyesight began focusing and he recognized the items in his room. His comforter. His desk. The Ichiraku Ramen takeout menu. Grounding himself. 

"Sasuke...are you okay?" Sakura asked apprehensively. She jumped to her feet and ran to Sasuke's side. Sasuke took his dark eyes to Sakura. She appeared clear and focused and no migraine followed. He felt better. Sasuke looked around the room. Naruto's shoes were gone, his school bag was gone, and his coat was gone. Naruto was gone and he wanted him back.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Sakura sat down on the bed bringing her hand to Sasuke's. "Naruto said he had business in Konoha...he'll be back before curfew."

Something told Sasuke that wasn't true...he was filled with the indescribable feeling that Naruto wasn't going to return to campus tonight. If at all. He already forgot the nightmare he was having and all that stayed with him was those feelings of anxiety, helplessness, and fear. Sasuke was throwing his legs over the edge of his bed and he was moving to where his school bag hung over his desk chair. Sasuke opened the messenger bag and began looking for his phone in a panic.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked as she rose to her feet in response. 

"Looking for my phone I need to call Naruto."

"Why?"

"I need to make sure he's okay!" Sasuke yelled as he dumped the items out from his messenger bag. Clinging against the floorboards was his sleek black smartphone. Sakura crouched in front of Sasuke as he held the phone to his ear dialing Naruto. Sasuke was filling with dread with each unanswered ring. His heart sank deeper into his rib cage.

"Hello?" Naruto asked from the other end. Sasuke straightened up into a standing position. The call went through. Naruto had answered. "Sasuke?"

"Naruto…" Sasuke breathed and he fell back until he was sitting in the desk chair. One hand holding the cell phone, and the other rested on the back of the chair.

"Hey it sounds like you're feeling better." Naruto spoke and Sasuke could hear the smile in his voice. For a moment it felt like Naruto was in front of Sasuke, sitting on his bed and smiling back at him.

"Yeah. I just woke up." Sasuke murmured and suddenly the feelings of dread, and panic, and worry left him. He was a loss for words. He still wanted Naruto here with him. 

"Where are you?" Sasuke asked. There was a long pause on Naruto's end and he cleared his throat. "Uh...in Konoha...I'll be back soon."

"Who are you with?" Sasuke asked. He knew the answer. Naruto was with Haku. He swallowed.

"That reminds me." Naruto interrupted. "I walked in on an interesting scene last night. Do you remember anything about last night with that redheaded girl?" Naruto was teasing him. Sasuke shifted his head to the side in confusion trying to remember what happened when Karin was here.

"No…" Sasuke spoke his eyes shifting from side to side as he tried to recall, but the last thing he remembered was Karin helping him into his bed. There was the conversation he and Naruto shared while in Sasuke's bed. In which Sasuke made Naruto promise he was going to remain by his side, and Naruto agreed. He remembered every moment of that conversation. Sasuke's face flushed with the memory. He was too forward, and it embarrassed him. He'd just blame it on the fever. 

"You were kissing that redheaded girl." Naruto answered with a laugh, and Sasuke raised his eyebrows. 

"No I didn't!"

"You did, and maybe you liked it." Naruto countered and then burst out laughing.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "No I didn't! I didn't like it. Naruto you're just reading too much into things. Alright? I didn't like it!"

"Okay...but you did kiss her. Right in front of me."

Naruto laughed again and his laughter was magical and Sasuke felt a smile form on his lips just listening to him. 

"I had a fever. I can't be responsible for my actions. It didn't mean anything I don't even remember it." Sasuke mumbled and he felt heat under the flesh of his cheeks. Sasuke suddenly wanted to brush his teeth and rinse his mouth out with Listerine just imagining the kiss with Karin, and in front of Naruto. He shuddered. 

"Yeah...I know." Naruto spoke his voice low and barely above a whisper. The laughter gone. There was a long pause again. It made Sasuke uncomfortable. He wanted to know what Naruto was doing, where he was, and who he was doing it with. He wanted Naruto to tell him he was with Kiba or even Sai...anyone else besides Haku. He opened his mouth to ask but was interrupted. 

"I'll be back in a couple of hours, get some rest okay? You're still sick so don't go over exerting yourself, or else you won't get better. I have to go. See you soon, Sasuke! Bye!"

Sasuke wasn't able to say goodbye and when he opened his mouth to respond as silence filtered through the receiver.

*****

_Friday night 7:05PM_

"Finished with your phone call?" 

Haku asked coldly with crimson glossed lips. Haku was dressed in a pastel green tulle dress, nude stockings, and pumps. Haku held the hotel keycard in one hand, and the other rested on the door handle. It was the same room they had always went to. The top floor penthouse suite at the Twin Leaves hotel.

Room 3707.

Naruto was dressed in his school uniform. He didn't understand why Haku was all dressed up when they'd soon be naked. He stuffed his cellphone and hands into his jean jacket's pocket exhaling loudly through his nose. His relationship with Haku changed drastically. He became more of a business associate than a friend and everything he did with Haku was a business transaction. Something he had to do to get what he wanted. And what did he want? Callisto. His patience with Haku was growing thin and Naruto became irritated with everything Haku did and said. He had grown distant and cold towards Haku, and he wanted to ensure Haku knew this at every possible chance he had. 

"The concept is probably hard for you to understand because you don't have any actual friends...but it's called friendship, and friends like to call each other to make sure we're doing okay."

Haku shrugged and slid the keycard through. The lock lit up green and a clicking sound was heard. 

"If that's what you want to call it." Haku answered and entered the penthouse suite. 

Naruto willingly followed and as soon as he stepped in the door slammed shut behind him. He began to slide the messenger bag from his shoulder and turned slowly to his left just as he saw a blur coming down fast. Something sharp and hard struck Naruto across the back of his head and he felt his body falling forward. He wasn't able to comprehend what was happening. An explosion of blackness with white stars lit up his vision. Landing on all fours Naruto tried to push himself up, but he felt a kick to his rib cage, and his body jerked with the blow. Somebody was grabbing a fistful of his hair and slammed his head down onto the tiled floor of the entrance way. There was the sound of Naruto's nose cracking and he felt blood gushing out his nostrils. 

"I'm glad you were able to accept my invitation tonight, Naruto. Tonight will be a night you won't forget. I promise you." Zabuza purred into his ear.

Naruto felt Zabuza release his hair, and then felt a blow to the side of his face. Zabuza had kicked Naruto with all his strength. The pain erupted at impact, and Naruto bit down on the side of his tongue causing his mouth to fill with blood. Naruto screamed out in pain, spitting blood and saliva across the tiles.

"It's time I teach you some manners." Zabuza purred again as he sent another kick to Naruto's rib cage. Haku kneeled down beside Naruto, who had rolled into his back, and reached into Naruto's coat pocket bringing out his cellphone. He turned the phone around before tossing it to Zabuza who caught it and placed it in his pocket.

"You better not be too physical with him. If he isn't back by curfew it's going to look suspicious. Especially since he just got off the phone with his roommate who'll be expecting him by 11." 

"Shut your mouth, Haku and get the ropes. Help me tie him up." Zabuza barked. It was in that moment that Naruto regretted not taking the asphalt path back to Konoha Campus.


	28. Look What You Made Me Do

# Look What You Made Me Do

 

_Friday night 7:30PM._

White nylon rope chafed against Naruto's wrists. He was bound tightly with a handcuff knot. The more Naruto struggled, the tighter the rope wrapped around his flesh, and the more the manufactured fibers dug into his skin. The blonde had his arms bound behind the back of the chair, and his ankles tied to both front legs. Naruto was breathing heavily and watched as Zabuza began setting up a camcorder on a tripod. He stopped when the lens focused on Naruto, the green light was on, and it was recording. Zabuza stood back and admired his cinematography skills. 

"This little beauty has everything. Sony Professional HRV High Definition, microphone, records in 1080i, 10x optical zoom. Ahhh...the camera really does love you." Zabuza laughed zooming in on Naruto's expression of pure hatred and disgust. It caused the blonde to roll his eyes and look away. Blood continued to drip from Naruto's nose, staining his lips, chin, and rolled down his neck. Naruto was finding it difficult to breathe with each inhale his rib cage vibrated in pain so his breathing came out staggered and shallow. He wondered if one of the kicks to his chest fractured a couple of ribs. 

"So what...gunna start producing child porn now? Not enough that you're pimping out kids? Gotta record it now too?" Naruto spat before mumbling under his breath, "Least there will be evidence when I turn your ass over to the police."

"What did you say?" Zabuza yelled. Naruto remained silent.

Naruto heard the hotel front door opening and closing. Naruto peeked at Zabuza's expression. What he saw sent chills down his spine, and his blood ran cold. It was the expression of a serial rapist who was given the gift of a sacrificial virgin served up on a golden platter. It felt like whatever innocence was left within him was going to be destroyed. He was about to be put through a meat grinder. He knew it. He tried to remain brave, stoic, in control. He tried really hard to stay in character.

"Ah...my special guest has arrived." Zabuza spoke as he licked his teeth, and rubbed his hands together.

Naruto turned his head to the left just as the bedroom door flew open, and standing in the doorway was Biwa Juzo. His eyes widened and his pupils turned into pinpricks. The psychological distress he experienced from his first round with Juzo came bursting through the levies. It impaled him like a javelin to the chest. It pierced his rib cage, punctured his lungs, and rammed out his back. He couldn't breathe. That was an understatement. He couldn't move. Couldn't blink. Couldn't form a coherent thought. He focused on Juzo and the world around them vanished. He couldn't look away. He was trapped. Tied to a chair. Served up. The cameras were rolling. He lost the ability to speak. He became mute, deaf, blind. 

"Zabuza...when you said you'd deliver I didn't expect you to deliver! But boy did you fucking _de-liv-er_!" 

Juzo's low baritone voice ricocheted across the room. Everything happened so fast he couldn't resister. Juzo was straddling Naruto pressing up against him, bringing his rough cold fingers to either side of his head, and tilting his neck up, where he brought his tongue to the blood that had dripped down his neck and lapped it up. Juzo's tongue was rough and patchy and wet. Naruto immediately felt nauseous and closed his eyes. Maybe if he closed his eyes everything would go away. Maybe it was just a nightmare. Maybe he was actually sleeping. Just because he couldn't see him didn't mean it turned off his other senses. He felt Juzo's tongue slide up and down his neck, across his chin, and to his lips. Juzo kissed Naruto and when he didn't reciprocate he bit Naruto's lower lip and pulled it out. 

Naruto opened his eyes as Juzo released his lip. He wasn't sleeping. This was real life. Juzo's fingers traced the thin linear scar that went horizontal across Naruto's neck. A memento from the night they shared together. Both hands wrapped around Naruto's neck and if he wanted Juzo could snap his neck and there was nothing he could about it.

"Your blood has been my favorite, and I couldn't stop thinking of you...so much that I called Zabuza up the moment I found out you were still alive and paid triple just to have the opportunity to spend another night with you." Juzo spoke and he pulled from his pocket a six inch blade. Light reflected off the blade and for a moment Naruto caught sight of his own reflection. The expression he wore frightened him. His vision blurred and he began having flashbacks from The Manor. 

"Leave us." 

Juzo growled at Zabuza. Naruto heard Zabuza move towards the bedroom door. When Zabuza closed the door behind him, Juzo brought his attention to the camcorder. A cruel smile spread his thin lips revealing sharpened canines. "Looks like I'll be able to relive this night over and over and over again."

Naruto shifted under the older man's weight and moved his head to the side trying to avoid the camera. Seeing this caused Juzo to immediately grab hold of his chin and jerked Naruto's face back front and center. He was the star after all. "It occurred to me the first night. There is something missing on your face. The moment I saw you I knew I had to have you, because you reminded me of a cat I used to have."

As Juzo spoke he brought the blade to Naruto's right cheek and sliced swiftly down causing the skin to peel apart and blood began oozing from the wound. He was still in a state of shock that at first he didn't register the mutilation he was suffering from. He was too frightened to say anything. His voice was sealed away. Juzo brought the knife a centimeter down from the first cut and with an identical movement sliced Naruto's skin to form two parallel bloody lines. He was slicing him open as easily as if he was carving a pumpkin. 

"This looks better...whiskers on your cheek like the orange tabby I used to have." Juzo said as he made a third and final cut across Naruto's right cheek. Juzo brought the blade to the left side of Naruto's face. "My orange tabby scratched me one day when I was a tot and I became very angry, I grabbed it's neck and snapped it in two. The tabby was much nicer afterwards and didn't scratch me again. I loved that tabby cat. You remind me of that tabby cat."

Pain was a powerful emotion and it jump started Naruto's sympathetic nervous system. Much like prey being chased by a predator all of Naruto's bodily functions went towards one goal: staying alive.

Juzo was on the second identical cut on Naruto's left cheek when a knock came from the door and Zabuza opened it. "The other boy is here...whenever you're ready." 

Other boy? He had a sinking feeling. He knew...he _knew_ who the other boy was, so why did he even ask the question? It filled him with anger. No. No. No. He didn't _know_ who it was. It could have been any nameless underage slab of meat. Haku got around. He was a snake charmer. Naruto turned towards the door to try and see who else was there. The door was closed before Naruto could find out. Juzo brought the knife to Naruto's left cheek and sliced. Afterwards, Juzo leaned back and admired the six whiskers he had created on the blonde. He was nearly perfect. The nearly perfect tabby cat that he loved so much. Whiskers and all. 

Juzo leaned down and began licking the blood. "You're too quiet. I want to hear you scream tabby-cat."

Naruto smiled coldly. The anger hijacked his brain. He found his voice and scoffed. "Like I'd give _you_ the pleasure."

Big mistake. He should have just kept quiet. The little fight he had was enough to get him killed. 

Juzo unfastened his belt buckle and slid the leather from the belt loops. He wrapped the leather around Naruto's neck, and fastened the leather strap through the belt buckle and in one fluid movement stood up. Juzo jerked the belt upwards, the loop fastened tightly around Naruto's neck and effectively cut off all oxygen supply to his lungs. Naruto was choking and jerking his body violently trying to breathe.

"You may not be screaming...but your choking noises are making me hard as a fucking rock." Juzo barked as he jerked the belt strap. He let go of the belt which fell around Naruto's neck like a leash. He unzipped his pants and pulled out his swollen cock. It was a monstrosity. It was large and fat and angry. Juzo held his cock in front of Naruto's mouth.

"Suck it."

Naruto glared up at Juzo and opened his mouth. He tried to imagine it was Sasuke. The cock was slammed into Naruto's mouth filling him up. It tasted putrid. It tasted sweaty and salty and unwashed, and it smelled like tuna fish that was left out all day in the sun. Naruto gagged, but it only excited Juzo. Naruto began sucking the monstrosity. His mind wandering and pretending it was Sasuke. Juzo grabbed a fist full of Naruto's hair and jerked his head back. With this angle he began thrusting into Naruto's mouth. Fucking his mouth. In and out. His cock forced down this throat. He couldn't breathe. He was choking and gagging. The thrusting continued. It was harder and harder to imagine it was Sasuke. 

Juzo grabbed the belt and pulled just when his cock went back down Naruto's throat. Naruto's throat enclosed around his cock and it caused Juzo to ejaculate at the same time that Naruto vomited. Semen, and bile, and saliva, and vomit retched out of Naruto's mouth and nose. Just when his eyes rolled into the back of his head did Juzo pull himself from inside Naruto and he loosened his hold on the belt. 

"You goddamn pig...if you're going to act like a pig I'm going to want you to squeal like a goddamn pig!" Juzo screamed as he looked at the vomit sliding off his erect cock. He kicked at the chair. "I wanted to play with a kitty-cat!" 

Naruto's body automatically jerked to the side. The chair shifted from four legs to two legs, and Juzo let go of the belt causing Naruto to collapse to the right. Juzo moved his knife to the nylon ropes that bound Naruto's ankles and cut them freeing his legs.

Naruto was too busy forcing oxygen into his lungs to notice that Juzo was positioning himself behind him. Juzo dropped the knife, and pulled hard on the belt strap, cutting off the oxygen supply. Naruto was gagging on saliva and semen and vomit and blood. The loop wrapped tighter around his neck crushing his trachea. Juzo's free hand went to Naruto's school uniform pants where he began to undo the buttons, and began yanking the fabric down. Naruto was struggling violently jerking his body from side to side instinctively struggling against the handcuff knot that bound his arms behind his back.

Juzo loosened the belt as he pulled Naruto's boxers down exposing his white ass cheeks. Naruto was just about to inhale when the belt was tightened back up cutting off the oxygen. Naruto's vision turned back, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, as he was gagging again. Only this time Naruto went unconscious. 

*****

_Friday night 8:30PM._

When Naruto came too again he was being fucked bareback by Juzo. Dry fucking his anus. With each thrust he felt himself opening up. Everything was blurry around the edges. Naruto was on his back. He lost all feeling in his hands and they felt cold and foreign. His body jerked up and down. He saw the shadowy outline of Juzo on top of him. Juzo's sick smile spread thick when he noticed Naruto was conscious, and he leaned over and began biting Naruto's neck. Naruto could feel the skin around his neck. Raw and blotched. He wanted to cry out, as Juzo sunk his teeth into the flesh of his neck.

Through the pain Naruto also began to feel pleasure building up and he looked down to see his own erect cock swinging side to side with each thrust. Naruto felt his toes curling as the pleasure continued to build. No. No. No. He was screaming internally. Hating his body for reacting to Juzo. 

"Look at this. Little slut is turned on by it. Why are you hiding it? When you fucking enjoy it."

Juzo hand wrapped itself around Naruto's cock and he began jerking him off. The pleasure intensified. Building and building and soon Juzo fell into a perfect rhythm with each thrust he jerked Naruto off in perfect unison. And just when Naruto was about to cum Juzo pulled the belt tightly around Naruto's neck cutting off the oxygen and it had intensified the orgasm making it ten times more intense. Naruto's orgasm rocked his body and blinded him causing him to enter a subspace deep inside himself. 

Naruto forgot the pain, forgot the pain that erupted from his asshole, from his bound wrists, from his neck, from his nose, from his mouth, from the sliced whisker marks on either side of his face. The pain melted away into pure ecstasy...until pure orgasm blurred the world around him into nothingness.

*****

_Friday night 9:15PM._

When Naruto came too again somebody was splashing water onto his face and he woke up coughing and sputtering. He inhaled oxygen painfully into his lungs. 

Juzo was standing over him. "Wake up little orange tabby. We're not done playing yet. You see we're just getting started."

Naruto was being shoved down on a bench at the breakfast nook. In the kitchen. His arms were still bound behind him. Naruto was only wearing the button up shirt of his school uniform. He was naked from the waist down. Water dripped down his face. His shirt was stained in blood, and vomit, and semen. His ass cheeks and balls pressed against the cold bench. He could feel semen leaking out of his asshole and wetting the bench, making it slippery beneath him. He lifted his eyes up to see a familiar sight in front of him. Zabuza was seated across from him in the corner. His arm was swung over Konohamaru's shoulder. Haku was seated perpendicular to Naruto. 

"You piece of shit...HAKU!" Naruto screamed but his voice came out raspy. He was barely able to speak above a whisper. The belt had damaged his trachea and larynx and sharp shooting pain erupted when he tried to move his vocal cords. It really _was_ Konohamaru. Not a nameless nobody...it was the grandson of the Sandaime. 

"NARUTO!" 

Konohamaru screamed and in response Zabuza pointed the barrel of the gun at his mouth. Silencing him. Juzo reappeared dragging the tripod and camcorder into the kitchen. He re-positioned the camera lens so that it recorded everything that was happening at the breakfast nook.

Naruto looked at the terror-stricken face of Konohamaru and it sickened him. It was the same expression Hinata had when she was being dragged down the alleyway. The expression that unknown male had at the Chihiro Train Station as he was forced on his knees. An expression Naruto had when Zabuza pulled the trigger an inch from his ear on the first night. The expression that said at any second they were going to die and there wasn't anything they could do about it. An expression of fear and powerlessness as their life was being held in someone else's hands. 

"We're going to play a game." Juzo barked as he dropped five dice onto the table. Three red die, and two black die. "It's called ' _Ship, Captain, Crew_ '. It's simple you roll a six and you have your ship, you roll a five and you have your captain, and if you roll a four well, you have your crew. You roll these, in that order, within three rolls then the other two die are used to count up the treasure. Whoever has the lowest score...will be _shot_."

Konohamaru's expression turned grave, and his jaw dropped. The lines on his face ran deeper, the shadows on his face turned blacker, and his pupils became smaller. Konohamaru perfectly resembled Edvard Munch's _The Scream_.

"Don't worry. Haku is playing too. It's only fair." Zabuza purred. Every time he spoke it sounded like nails being dragged across a chalkboard. It set his teeth on edge. 

Haku jerked his head to look anxiously at Zabuza. "That wasn't part of it!"

"I told you I wanted the Hokage's brat weeks ago. Maybe you should have tried harder to deliver him to me." Zabuza hissed as he grabbed hold of Haku's black hair and pulled his head back throttling him for a moment. Naruto would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it. 

Zabuza released his hold on Haku and turned to Juzo. "Who should go first?"

"My tabby cat." 

Juzo walked up behind Naruto he brought the blade of the knife to the nylon ropes and cut them. It was the first time Naruto felt relief as he felt the ropes slide off his wrist and into a heap on the tiled kitchen floor. Naruto moved his wrists around as he brought his arms in front of him. He massaged his wrists with both hands, and rubbed blood, warmth and life back into his swollen red fingers.

Naruto glanced towards the kitchen exit and he wondered if he could make it. Escape now. They wouldn't expect it. He'd have surprise on his side. Maybe Juzo could read Naruto's mind because before he could push himself away from the table Juzo brought the blade of the knife to Naruto's neck. Juzo dragged the tip of the blade down Naruto's chest, past his stomach and between his legs where the blade pressed tenderly against his limp penis. The tip of the blade made a small incision into the shaft. All thoughts of escape dissipated. He wouldn't be able to escape alive...he'd leave in a body bag. If he didn't play nicely. If he didn't follow the rules. 

"Roll my little kitten." Juzo whispered into Naruto's ear. 

Naruto's hands couldn't stop shaking, he gathered all five dice into both palms, shook it twice, and released. The dice rolled onto the table. Naruto was trying to remember the rules of the game. FM radio static had filled his skull. Juzo removed the blade from his penis and leaned over the table at what he rolled. 

"Ah...no luck. You have a captain and a crew, but no ship. Too bad. You'll have to roll all the dice again." Juzo explained in a mocking voice. Naruto scanned the dice he had a five and a four, but didn't have the six, and he had to roll all of them again just because he didn't roll a fucking six? Naruto rolled all six dice again. The FM radio static grew louder.

"Look, you have the ship but no captain, and no crew." Juzo pressed the knife back against Naruto's throat. He leaned over to move the red six off to the side. "Roll the remaining dice." Juzo licked the side of Naruto's face and he recoiled. He tried to ignore Juzo.

It was his last roll. Naruto picked up the five dice. Naruto was distracted by Zabuza. The older man was stroking Konohamaru's cock over his school pants.

"Don't touch him!" Naruto hoarsely screamed dropping the dice. Naruto felt the blade of the knife press harder against his neck threatening to break skin. Zabuza turned his deadly expression to Naruto and his lips curled into a dishearteningly cruel grin. He didn't stop and this time shoved his hand into Konohamaru's pants. 

"Ah too bad Naruto. You have zero points." Juzo retorted as he shoved all six dice to Haku who carefully picked up all six.

"Naruto…" 

Konohamaru whimpered and tears began rolling down his face. His body trembling as if in the middle of a category two earthquake. Naruto heard Haku roll the dice but was too focused on Konohamaru to notice.

"Listen to me Konohamaru. Just focus on me. You're going to get through this. I won't let anything happen to you." He didn't know what he was doing, but speaking to Konohamaru and he could feel himself relaxing, as if he was saying those words to himself.

"Trying to play the hero, Naruto? I wouldn't believe him Konohamaru. Naruto has a nasty habit of lying." Haku spoke vindictively and Naruto turned his attention to Haku. He was putting aside a six, a five, and a three all on his first roll. Haku rolled the additional two die. He rolled a five and a three.

"Lying Haku?! You said you'd leave Konohamaru out of it!"

"No...what I said was I regretted saving your life." Haku spoke coldly. Haku looked at the dice, he had one more roll to try and score more than an eight. Haku's eyes flickered right to left as he tried to figure out the probability of rolling higher than an eight. Haku decided the chances were good and he picked up the dice. "What I said was I should have left you bleeding out at the filthy bus stop."

Haku released the dice and Naruto's eyes followed the two red die. Two number fives. Naruto turned his icy blue eyes to glare at Haku and the other boy turned to glare back. Mirror images of each other. The layers of Haku's mask were peeled back and he saw his true wretched personality. It was sickening. 

"Haku's total score is 25. Tabby cat's score is 0. And that just leaves you." Juzo spoke with glee turning his attention to Konohamaru.

"How was the first video you made?" Haku asked Naruto cruelly. "Was it memorable?"

Naruto jerked his body to the side, and kicked Haku as hard as he could in the shins. Haku cried out and Naruto kicked Haku again just as Juzo grabbed hold of Naruto's neck and slammed him backwards to the floor. Naruto's spine collided against the tile floor in a thudding noise. The momentum caused the bench to tilt backwards. Juzo stepped onto Naruto's throat and pressed his weight down. Naruto was gagging again and his eyes watered up.

"That's enough out of you kitten. Remember what happened to my tabby pet?" Juzo warned as he pressed harder down on Naruto's throat. There was the sound of dice hitting the table and Juzo looked to see the outcome.

"Ahhh...congratulations. Ship, captain, and crew all on the first roll. Roll again for the treasure." 

Naruto couldn't see what was happening. He brought up both hands to Juzo's shoe as it pressed against his neck, he pushed up a little, and Juzo shifted his weight to his other foot. Naruto quickly forced air into his lungs. He heard the dice glide across the tabletop again.

"Twelve. Looks like you're the winner with 27 points. Tell me have you played this game before?" 

Juzo removed his foot from Naruto's throat and kneeled down moving the blade of the knife across Naruto's jawline. "Let's go kitty-kitty. Time to decide the winner and the loser."

Naruto sat back down on the bench and picked up all six dice, he shook his hands three times, before releasing all six dice. Nothing. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. Naruto began to think about death. Naruto had been sober the entire night. He had withdrawal from cocaine, sure, but Callisto was not given to him. It was part of his punishment. The only high he experienced was oxygen deprivation. Was this Zabuza's way of teaching Naruto manners? Bullshit.

Naruto picked up all six dice and rolled again. Naruto wondered if death was like that...oxygen deprivation and just fading away into nothingness. The only difference was he wouldn't ever regain consciousness. He would just cease to exist any longer.

"Ship...captain...and crew. Are you going to roll a final time, or are you going to tally the dice as is?"

Naruto looked at the three and four numbered die. He decided to chance it. Did he want to live, or did he want to die? Naruto gathered the dice up and rolled again. Snake eyes. Fuck. He should have just stayed. He forgot the answer to his question. Death looked appetizing in this moment.

"Final score...17."

Naruto heard Konohamaru whimpering and he peeked at the younger boy who had large tears rolling down his face, and clear snot dripping down from his nose. His shoulders sagged as he sobbed. He looked even younger. Just a child. Just a stupid snot-nosed child who didn't belong here. 

The dice slid across the tabletop. Ship. Captain. Crew. First roll. Naruto's blue eyes looked to the other two dice. Haku rolled a five and a six. Fuck.

"Final score 26. Sorry my little tabby cat...you lose." Juzo spoke as he brought his tongue down to the parallel wounds on Naruto's left cheek and traced the lines with the tip of his tongue.

"I'll show you something Juzo." Zabuza spoke as he slide the handgun over to Haku. "What it means to have perfect control over your pets. The problem is you play too rough with your pets you end up killing them...you don't understand the benefits of keeping them alive."

"Haku, shoot Naruto." Zabuza commanded.

Juzo stepped away and positioned himself behind the camcorder. Naruto brought his eyes to Haku. Blinking. Everything sounded like he was under water and the FM radio static was growing louder inside his skull. Nothing felt real. Haku picked up the handgun and pointed the the gun at Naruto's chest. He stared down the barrel of the gun. Stared into the black hole. Into the darkness and the darkness stared back. It was pointed directly at his heart. He was going to die. How long did it take the human body to bleed out? It was irreverent if his heart was already destroyed by the bullet. Would it hurt? Would it be instantaneous? He wished the latter. 

Haku hesitated, and Zabuza screamed his name. Konohamaru screamed out an inaudible animal cry and covered his face with both hands.

...and Haku pulled the trigger. It was the sound of the bullet leaving it's chamber. Time stood still.

Naruto closed his eyes. He thought about death and maybe it would be the reprieve he needed. Naruto had already died once. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and only when he was shocked with electricity did he come back to life. Electricity jump started his heart much like jump starting a car battery. He should have died at birth. Naruto was just living on borrowed time. The life his mother sacrificed for him to live was a complete fucking waste. He deserved to die. Yeah, maybe death wouldn't be that bad.

Just when Naruto was about to accept his death a voice from the back of his skull broke through the FM radio static. It was Sasuke's voice, and a memory emerged. 

_"Don't leave me...stay by my side forever."_

_"Okay."_

_"Do you promise?"_

_"I promise."_

Naruto heard the sound of the bullet being released from the barrel of the gun, and he opened his eyes. His body moved on it's own jerking to the left. He felt the bullet strike his right shoulder, tearing through layers of skin, into muscle, ripping apart cartilage, burrowing through bone, until it exploded out of his back. The force of the bullet entering his body caused him to collide against the kitchen tiled floor. Hard and loud. 

And the critics go ' _whoa_ '.


	29. Going Under

# Going Under

 

"Shisui."

"Obito." 

"This is a contained crime scene. Only authorized personnel allowed. And last time I checked. You are not a member of the Uchiha Police Force...or even a member of the Uchiha." Obito remarked with a snort and an incredulous expression. One that said he couldn't believe Shisui had the audacity to show up and expect to gain clearance. It was comical. 

Obito was dressed in regulation blues and positioned himself in front of penthouse suite 3707 whereas Shisui stood in the regulated Anbu uniform maskless. He looked Shisui up and down. He was Cerberus guarding the gates of hell. Yet all Shisui saw before him was the dog of Fugaku. Yellow police tape blocked off the closed door. Shisui wasn't going to advance any further with the way things were. 

Shisui flipped his palms up, shrugged, and spoke frivolously. Stalling for time. "Ah...come on Obito. We both know why I'm here. This isn't your run of the mill cops and robbers bullshit this is a potential child prostitution ring that may or may not involve the Hokage's kid."

"Prostitution is under _our_ jurisdiction." Obito answered coldly. He folded his arms over his chest, showing no indication he was going to allow Shisui entrance into the suite. Shisui may have sweet talked his way past the police officers on the first floor but Obito was going to enforce protocol. 

"The Hokage's son is under my jurisdiction. So we've come to an impasse." Shisui replied his voice dropping low and serious.

"Well. He currently isn't _here_. He's at the hospital. So maybe your time would be better spent at the hospital where your little _jurisdiction_ is than here obstructing a police investigation." Obito answered with inflection. 

The two stared each other down. Neither blinking. Itachi walked down the hotel corridor carrying a white envelope with the Hokage's dipped wax seal. Shisui smirked. Right on time. Itachi held the envelope out to Obito. Trailing behind Itachi were four other Anbu members all in kitsune masks. All anonymous. Itachi stood besides Shisui while Obito begrudgingly took the envelope. Shisui smiled smugly, and placed a hand on his hip. Waiting for Obito to read the executive order. 

"Itachi." Obito greeted dryly. He looked from Itachi, to the envelope, to the Hokage's wax seal. He looked back at Itachi standing firmly by Shisui's side. Itachi wore the matching regulation Anbu uniform but he too was maskless. The younger man's expression was unreadable and Obito once again couldn't figure out what Itachi was thinking let alone figure out why he had aligned with Shisui. 

The only reprieve was Fugaku was at the hospital waiting for Naruto to regain consciousness to begin the questioning. Obito knew if Fugaku was here and witnessed Itachi alongside Shisui it would have turned very ugly very fast. Fugaku left Obito to manage the crime scene. He knew _that_ was going to change with the contents of the envelope. The Hokage's seal. Personally delivered by the Anbu. He exhaled. He knew what it meant. 

"The Uchiha police are being relieved of their services. The Anbu will be handling the investigation from here on out. Executive orders from Yondaime Namikaze." Itachi explained as Obito hesitated to open the envelope. 

Shisui was now beaming triumphantly. Obito tore the envelope open and began reading the sheets of paper. Just to be sure. He crushed the paper in his hand, stepped to the side and allowed them entrance. Shisui nodded to Itachi and Itachi and the four Anbu members entered the penthouse suite. Shisui remained outside with Obito. 

"We'll leave now...but I assure you the Uchiha Police will be on this investigation until the end. Whatever happened inside the hotel room will be revealed to the public. There will be a prosecution. Uzumaki Naruto will be arrested and charged as an adult. The DA will bring up charges against Naruto. I won't allow you to make all of this disappear, Shisui like you did on Valentine's Day." 

"Are you implying the DA is in the pocket of the Uchiha Police? I'll be sure to tell him that when I speak to him."

"Stop twisting my words. I am talking about with both forensics and Naruto's confession it is enough to prosecute. He already confessed to killing Zabuza when he made that 911 call."

"Mitigating circumstances, Obito. Come now. Basic defense tactics. Lets not pretend you're an attorney, okay? You make a better lapdog than a pretend attorney."

"I guess we'll just wait and see." Obito commented. Shisui didn't answer and moved towards the closed door. 

"You were sloppy, Shisui. Whatever you thought you could do to arrest Danzo has failed, and look what has become of poor Naruto. Sloppy and shoddy work. So not only have you caused the Hokage's son to be victim of a kiddie porn ring your attempts of covering up Valentine's Day will be in vain. I can hear the smear campaign against Minato now...what will the public think of all of this?" 

Shisui turned around. There was a cold smile on his features and darkness in his eyes.

"I guess we'll just wait and see."

*****

Once inside Shisui shifted his eyes around the suite. He carefully moved around trying to dissect the crime scene into an accurate timeline of events. The last police officer left the suite leaving just the Anbu members. He began to cognitively reconstruct the scene based on the evidence left behind. The majority of the samples were already taken and sent to the lab. There were outlines around blood, knocked over furniture, and numbered plaques set on each piece of evidence. 

The majority of the night's events took place in the bedroom and the kitchen. Evidence by the blood and disarray of each room. 

Shisui and Itachi went to the bedroom. There were stab marks on the outside of the door. Somebody took a blade to the door ten times. Inside the bedroom was a large, reddish-brown blotch of human blood staining the white plush carpet. In the center of the stain was the outline of a human head in white plush carpet. Someone was bleeding out, but this blood did not belong to Naruto. The hospital staff said he lost blood but he didn't lose this much blood. 

There were patches of vomit, and piss on the carpet. The room smelled musty, dank, stale. He crinkled his nose. There was a distinctive smell of piss and blood mixed in with the smell of sex. It was nauseating. There were several portable black lights set up around the room, and when Itachi turned the lights off the room lit up like a goddamn Saturday night at the Guys and Dolls' strip club. There were fluids everywhere. The carpet. The sheets. The walls. The ceiling. The lights were turned back on. They had seen enough. 

"The tripod? What's on it?" Shisui asked and Itachi went to the tripod. The camcorder was positioned to focus on the large blood stain. 

"Nothing. Either somebody wiped it clean before the police arrived, or one of the police officers tampered with it. The possibility that whatever was on the camcorder is with the police is a high probability, and we should act with that caveat in mind." 

Shisui nodded his head in agreement, brought his hands to his hips, and exhaled loudly. A female Anbu member came in with a red and white kitsune mask covering her face.

"Walk me through on what we know from the emergency dispatchers." Shisui asked of the female member. 

"At approximately 10:22PM a call was made to emergency dispatchers. The caller identified themselves as Uzumaki Naruto. We are currently obtaining a copy of the actual 911 call. EMT's and the police arrived approximately 10:45PM. They found two unconscious teenagers in the master bedroom, Uzumaki Naruto and an unknown John Doe. In the kitchen they found Yuki Haku and Momochi Zabuza. Uzumaki and Doe were transported by ambulance to the hospital. Yuki was apprehended and taken to the police station for questioning. And Momochi was pronounced dead on scene. His body remains in the kitchen."

"Any indication on the whereabouts of Biwa Juzo?"

"No. He was not confirmed in any reports."

*****

_Bzzz...bzzz...bzzz_

Shisui stood in the kitchen. Surveying the complete disarray of furniture. The table was flipped upside down, and the bench was knocked to its side.

_Bzzz...bzzz...bzzz_

A vibrating sound emitted from somewhere in the room. There was a pool of liquid crimson around the bench, and droplets of blood trailed to behind the kitchen island. Shisui trailed the blood splatter and found another circle of liquid crimson on the floor behind the kitchen island. There was a mobile phone in the blood. It was Naruto's cell phone. He recognized the obnoxious orange phone case. This was Naruto's blood. The phone kept lighting up and vibrating.

_Bzzz...bzzz...bzzz_

Shisui pictured Naruto slumped up against the kitchen island. Phone pressed to his ear as he spoke to Shisui on the phone. Shisui's eyes trailed to a bullet lodged in the kitchen floor tile. It shattered the porcelain. Another bullet shattered and splintered through the wooden cabinets. Shisui imagined Naruto dropping the phone as he scrambled to get away from whoever was holding the gun. The vibrating and phone lighting up continued from the phone. He crouched low and looked at the name that flashed across the screen of the incoming call. _Uchiha Sasuke_. 

"Shisui." Itachi spoke from the doorway. Shisui straightened up. 

The female Anbu member appeared behind Itachi. She was carrying a manilla folder and flipped it open. "Shisui...John Doe was identified." She trailed off hesitantly. Her eyes scanned over the handwritten notes before looking back up at Shisui who raised his eyebrows in anticipation.

"Who is it?"

"Sarutobi Konohamaru."

Shisui dropped his head and ran a hand through his hair. He was beginning to strategize how to go about spinning things when the information was inevitably leaked to the media. Spinning it in the way where Naruto would come out as the savior to Konohamaru. Or something along the lines of living a sheltered, affluent life, on a pedestal was detrimental to their well-being and made them easy targets for predators like Momochi Zabuza. They were victims of circumstance. With Naruto's innate charisma and blonde hair blue eyed american looks coupled with Konohamaru's youth and innocence no jury would convict either of them. 

"Was the murder weapon recovered?" Shisui asked.

"Unknown. The Uchiha Police are being uncooperative about handing over collected evidence."

Itachi looked at the familiar face of Zabuza. Well what was left of it. The right side near the eye socket was blown apart, with blackened burnt flesh around the edges. There was shattered bones with eyeball and brain matter oozing out the bullet hole, down his cheek and piled on the floor. He was shot at point-blank range Itachi didn't need ballistics to tell him that. He looked at the blood and brain matter sprayed on the kitchen wall of the breakfast nook. It was chunky and not smooth. 

"What are your orders, Shisui?" the female Anbu member asked closing the manila folder.

"Embrace for impact. Itachi, I want you to pick up the brat in police custody and bring him to headquarters." 

Itachi turned on his heels and left the kitchen. Shisui walked up besides the female Anbu member, rested a hand on her shoulder, and whispered into her ear. "Follow him."

_Bzzz...bzzz...bzzz_

She bowed her head and left Shisui alone in the kitchen. The vibrating noise erupted from behind the kitchen island. Shisui glanced towards the kitchen island before finally leaving.

*****

"Sasuke!" 

Sakura shouted from across the courtyard. Sasuke exited the Mary Walker Health Clinic and looked up. He had a prescription bottle of antibiotics in his pocket. His mind was full. The blood results came back. The nurse had taken blood and sent it to the laboratory when Sasuke was brought in Thursday after his fainting spell. An STD panel was protocol. The nurse called to deliver the bad news, and per protocol the Health Department was notified. She asked Sasuke to list his sexual partners, and he hung up the phone. 

Sasuke was diagnosed with syphilis, and he picked up his prescription. The reality didn't sink in. It just floated at the surface. 

"Sasuke!" Sakura called out again. 

From the quiver in Sakura's voice Sasuke knew she had information regarding Naruto. The blonde once again didn't return home last night. It had been over twenty hours since Sasuke last spoken to him on the phone, and even though Sasuke called him over twenty times he didn't pickup. Sakura, dressed in street clothes, ran up to Sasuke who descended the stairs from the clinic. Sasuke wanted to confront Naruto to demand how the fuck he contracted syphilis. His mind was congested with racing thoughts. 

"What did you find out?" Sasuke asked and Sakura held out her phone horizontally to a video of a news report. Sasuke read the BREAKING NEWS banner: _Uzumaki Naruto involved in prostitution ring._ Sasuke hit the play button with his thumb, and held the phone delicately in both hands.

"This just in sixteen year old Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Yondaime, and fourteen year old Sarutobi Konohamaru, grandson to the Sandaime, were both found in critical condition at the Twin Trees penthouse suite following a 911 call, placed allegedly by Uzumaki himself. Sources say the alleged 911 call implicated Momochi Zabuza and Biwa Juzo behind the prostitution ring, and when emergency dispatchers arrived both Uzumaki and Sarutobi were found unconscious. Sources say Uzumaki suffered gunshot wounds, and Sarutobi suffered severe lacerations to his throat. Sources from the Uchiha Police mention similar lacerations were found on the unsolved murders of fourteen year old Kazamatsuri Moegi, whose body was found at the Chihiro Bus Stop and fifteen year old Ise Udon whose body was found at the bus stop on Konoha Preparatory Campus. The same school both Uzumaki and Sarutobi attend. The medical examiner documented significant ongoing sexual trauma on both of Kaamatsuri and Ise's bodies. The police have profiled Biwa Juzo as the prime suspect in their murders. It is currently alleged that Uzumaki and Sarutobi were involved in the same prostitution ring as Kazamatsuri and Ise. Again...this story is currently developing..."

Sasuke let go of the phone and it bounced off the concrete. His vision blurred and shrank until he was staring at the world through pinprick binoculars. He felt heat rise to his cheeks and his stomach churned. The reporter's words echoed in his skull. Those words slid down his esophagus, ricocheted against his rib cage, and settled into his stomach and solidified in his gut. The bad combination of reality mixing with stomach acid caused him to bend over and empty the contents of his stomach onto the concrete. His vomit splashed against the staircase that lead to the Mary Walker Health Clinic, and yet those words still remained within him. Like a parasite. 

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried as she grabbed hold of Sasuke's shoulders. 

"Why didn't he tell us...Why didn't Naruto tells us?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Sasuke screamed.

He jerked away from Sakura and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He didn't want to be touched by anybody. His skin was crawling with centipedes and beetles. Naruto was a prostitute fucking people for money? Naruto had contracted syphilis and fucking gave it to Sasuke. The pimple on his penis wasn't a pimple it was a goddamn outbreak. Naruto was involved in a prostitution ring? He bent over to vomit again but nothing came out. Just dry heaved like a cat trying to cough up a hairball. 

"You don't think...he wanted to...do you?" Sakura continued unnerved, and it caused Sasuke's eyes to widen. The world that was once blurry and spinning solidified again. 

"What? Of course not!" Sasuke accused. He wanted to believe those words. Wanted to believe Naruto was forced and didn't willingly participate. 

"I mean...he's the Hokage's son...certainly after the first time all he had to do was report it to stop it. But he didn't. He kept doing it...Naruto has changed Sasuke. I don't know who he is anymore. He isn't the same Naruto from middle school, and I don't think he'll ever be the same again." Sakura exclaimed wildly. She scooped up her phone from the ground and turned to stare at Sasuke.

"You can't possibly believe that…" Sasuke said disgustedly. He glared at Sakura. It wasn't far fetched. There was truth to Sakura's words. What was the truth except something tangible? Burning a hole in Sasuke's pocket was a prescription bottle. Now that was tangible.

"He could have told us what was going on. He didn't! Maybe this is the best for Naruto...he can finally get the help he needs."

"And what does he need?" Sasuke asked.

"Fucking therapy, Sasuke! He's a drug addicted prostitute!" Sakura screamed. "Naruto didn't care about you. He didn't care about me. And he doesn't even care about his father!"

Sasuke walked away, ignoring Sakura. He moved towards the asphalt path that lead to the library. To the bus stop. He needed to confront Naruto. He needed the blonde to tell him, to his face, how many guys he was with. He needed Naruto to tell Sasuke why he felt the need to lead Sasuke on while he was fucking and getting fucked for cash. Why Naruto thought it was okay after all of that to crawl into bed with him. He needed to know why Naruto gave him a sexually transmitted fucking disease. He needed Naruto to explain why...why he wasn't enough. 

"You think they'll let you visit him? You don't think I tried when he was in the car accident?"

"I need to see him!"

*****

"Congratulations...you have syphilis!" 

Tsunade spoke and straddled the chair at the foot of Naruto's hospital gurney. The bullet went clean through Naruto's shoulder missing any major artery. She told him he was lucky... _right_. Recovery was going to be slow and painful. He would need to do physical therapy to regain full control of his right arm again. He had surgery to repair the damage, to reconnect blood vessels and nerves, and given a blood transfusion or two. He didn't know whose blood was flowing through his body but it wasn't his. No. His blood was smeared all over room 3707. 

Tsunade stitched him back up almost like new again just like she did on Valentine's Day. 

His right shoulder was wrapped in bandages, and his arm fitted to a black sling. The slightest movement sent nauseating pain to shoot up and down his arm and spine. Pain was the only thing Naruto felt. Tsunade had refused to give him anything stronger than an 800 milligram ibuprofen, and it put him in a fowl mood. It might as well been baby aspirin. Pain pulsated around his shoulder, and a burning raw pain pulsated from his asshole. Brought on by unsafe anal sex. Tsunade reported he had anal fissures and tearing which needed to be treated before a fistula was formed. Naruto wasn't stupid he knew what it met. Juzo fucked him so hard his asshole tore and needed to be stitched back up. He had an ass full of nitroglycerin cream and stitched closed. Naruto's mind was focused on the pain. All if it all at once. 

"Did you hear me? I said. Congratulations...you have syphilis!" 

"What did you say?" Naruto asked jutting upwards. He winced in pain and it caused his vision to blur. 

"Relax...it's still stage 1 and easily curable. I already began the antibiotics in your IV. I just wanted you to be aware of everything that has happened to you medically as a result of your prostitution. What happened to you wasn't your fault, Naruto. Now's the time to start telling the truth. No more secretes." 

Tsunade continued with a shrug of her shoulder. Naruto's eyes went to the IV in his left hand, and his eyes fell to the ligature marks around his wrist. The skin went from a raw red to a purplish blue that wrapped around like a bracelet. Nartuto moved his left hand and the handcuffs that connected to the railing of the gurney clinked loudly. 

"Fucking perfect!" 

Naruto screamed throwing himself back down on the gurney. Naruto screamed an inaudible guttural scream. Kicked his legs up and down, yanked his wrist so that it banged against the handcuffs, and slammed his head against the pillow. The pain that erupted from his jerking movements caused Naruto to cry out. Naruto kept screaming and crying until he couldn't anymore, and then he remained silent. Panting. Chest heaving. He was depleted of all energy. 

There was a knock at the door and coming into the room was Detective Uchiha Fugaku and Detective Uchiha Obito. 

Tsunade grabbed the remote that controlled the bed settings, and pushed a button that caused the top half of the gurney to rise to a 90 degree angle. She remained seated in the chair as she spoke. "Good afternoon, detectives. Naruto is lucid and able to answer your questions. Come in."

"And what about Sarutobi Konohamaru?" Obito asked as he grabbed a spiral ringed notebook and flipped it open.

"Still in a medically induced coma. He suffered a hemorrhagic stroke." Tsunade replied curtly. Naruto swallowed and turned away. 

Both detectives walked to the side of the gurney. Obito looked down at the silver handcuffs that fastened around Naruto's wrist.

"I already told you everything, and you fucking put handcuffs on me. I'm not saying anything else. Go eat shit!" Naruto spoke hoarsely.

"The only thing you told us was you shot and killed Momochi Zabuza. You didn't tell us why, the reasoning, or anything else that happened that night." Obito replied. "So we put you under arrest for the murder of Momochi Zabuza."

Naruto turned his head to look out the window. All he could see was the overcast gray sky. The sky looked dingy and unsettling. It was fitting. Almost poetic. The forecast called for a thunderstorm. 

The reason? They wanted to know the reason? Naruto snorted. It was because Zabuza allowed Juzo to take Konohamaru into the bedroom with the camcorder. The reason was because Haku told Naruto he was going to leave Konohamaru alone if he just came back to the Twin Leaves Hotel. And he fucking lied. Naruto did it because Zabuza had absolute control over Haku. He did it because Zabuza told Haku to shoot Naruto. He did it because Haku did. Naruto had to do it because it was the only way it was going to stop. Nobody was going to save them...so Naruto had to do it the only way he knew how. 

"Did you catch Juzo?" Naruto asked and watched as Obito exchanged glances with Fugaku.

"No."

"Arrest him and I'll tell you everything!"

"His whereabouts are currently unknown."

"What more do you need? I already told you where the house was located! It's called The Manor! Near the Chihiro Train Station! Go do your fucking job and stop harassing me!" Naruto screamed straining his vocal cords more. He was beginning to think that every adult in this shit hole city was completely and utterly useless. No, it was something Naruto knew all along and it was just becoming more valid with each passing day. 

"If you don't cooperate we'll be forced to take you into police custody." Obito responded sternly. 

"Are you threatening my patient detective? If so this interview is over." Tsunade asked haughtily. She stood up. She was the only doctor Naruto saw who wore high heels, and more intimidating than any police officer. She was also the only one to tell Naruto exactly what was going on without manipulation or hidden agenda. Maybe...she was an okay adult. 

"Naruto!" 

A desperate familiar voice came from the doorway. Naruto turned his head to see Minato. He was dressed in a white cloak with red flames around the hem, and was running towards him. It was deja vu. Naruto was back to being eight years old and waiting at the police station. Back when Minato called out to him and wrapped his arms tightly around him so hard he lifted Naruto off the chair, until he was balancing on his tiptoes and being supported by his father. 

"Dad?" 

Minato wrapped his arms around Naruto. One arm secured behind Naruto's back, the other hand rested behind Naruto's head, and he was being pulled to his chest. There was a security and dependability to the embrace. Naruto's ear was pressed against Minato's chest and he could hear it, and feel it. Minato's beating heart. The embrace caught him off guard. It was something Naruto hadn't experienced since he was a child. He didn't know how to respond, and the only defense mechanism he had was to freeze up.


	30. Dead or Alive

# Dead or Alive

 

"Get these handcuffs off my son NOW, Fugaku!" Minato shrieked once he noticed the handcuffs around Naruto's bruised wrist. 

"He's a flight risk, Minato." 

"Flight risk my ass! Look at him! Do you think he can be smuggled out of the hospital in that condition?" Minato screamed pointing at his son. He spun around and gave Fugaku a penetrating look. It was filled with abhorrence. An expression of immeasurable hatred. Fugaku had crossed a line when targeting his son. Their rivalry was public knowledge but the deep seeded hatred ran deeper than a schoolyard feud. There were no holds barred neither wore a mask of professionalism inside Naruto's hospital room. It was only a manner of time when words turned into fists. The only safety factor was Tsunade.

"Naruto admitted to killing somebody, Minato. He will not be held to a different standard just because he is _your_ son." Fugaku barked in his low baritone voice, however not holding back the cold smile that curled his lips as if he was about to call out checkmate. 

"Interrogating a minor without their guardian present or notified is against the law, Fugaku! Any statement Naruto made before being notified he has a right to a guardian or attorney present cannot be used as evidence, and will be inadmissible."

"Tsunade!" Fugaku spat, acknowledging the female surgeon who was standing at the foot of the hospital gurney. Tsunade exhaled loudly and closed her eyes. All she saw were two children squabbling. She rubbed her temple. 

"Minato...Naruto was informed of his rights and waved them. I had been present when they asked him questions. He agreed to answer their questions. Er...some of their questions. He wasn't forthcoming on _why_." Tsunade explained. 

Minato turned to stare at Tsunade, comprehending that Fugaku was working by the books. Of course he is he isn't dealing with some no-name lowlife criminal he was dealing with Minato's son. He was afraid of what Naruto said, and he didn't want him to say anything anymore. Whether it was the truth or a lie he wanted Naruto silent until he spoke to his attorney and Shisui on how to proceed.

"As his father I am revoking that right and you will not speak to my son without me or an attorney present." Minato recovered. 

He needed to salvage what little control he had over the situation. He wasn't an attorney but knew enough to know what to say and how to say it. He had already placed a call to his attorney. Minato was going to have to give a public statement. Sooner rather than latter. It would be easier without Naruto's comments to the police _accidentally_ leaking out to the public. It was already bad enough the media got their hands on the 911 audio recording. The said it was from an unknown source but Minato knew the Uchiha Police had something to do with it. The only godsend was they weren't allowed to play it in it's entirety for it was evidence. 

Fugaku pulled from inside his pocket a blue rectangular document and held it out to Minato. He knew what it was before Fugaku even had the chance to explain. 

"This is Naruto's arrest warrant. He'll be turned over to police custody once he is medically discharged." 

"Leave this room now. All of you! I want to speak to my son. Alone." Minato growled.

He ripped the blue document from Fugaku's hand so roughly it tore. It caused Fugaku to smirk. He raised his eyebrows wearing an expression that seemed to tell Minato ' _I got you now_.' Minato scowled as Fugaku, Obito, and Tsunade left the hospital room. The door closed behind them. A silence befell upon the room. The only sounds came from the heart monitor hooked up to Naruto.

The young blonde fixed his eyes out the window staring at the dismal sky that turned darker and blacker; pretending not to hear the adults discussing him like the adults pretended Naruto wasn't in the room while they were discussing him. Naruto peeked at his father when the silence grew. He grew uncomfortable, afraid of what his father was going to say now that they were...alone.

"Prostitution? Addiction...and now murder?" Minato asked. His back to Naruto. His arms were folded and his voice filled with utter disappointment. He couldn't bring himself to look at Naruto, and Naruto sensed it. The young blonde's cheeks turned red with embarrassment. He wanted Minato to shut up and leave. He'd rather be arrested and booked than be forced to stay another second in the hospital room with him. 

"If your mother could see you…"

Anger took hold of Naruto and he turned his attention back to Minato. Everything bubbled to the surface and Naruto's vision turned red. 

"Well I'm sorry mom isn't here! I never asked to be born! I never wanted to go to that stupid boarding school! Whose fault do you think it is that I'm like this? This is your fault!" Naruto cried out hoarsely. The inside of his throat like it was on fire.

"Kushina would be disgusted by you right now! You're wasting the precious life she gave you! You're wasting the precious life she sacrificed herself for! For what?! For prostitution? What for? Drug addiction? You have everything! I gave you everything! My fault? How is this my fault! I gave you everything!" 

Minato screamed turning to stare at his son. His dark blue eyes scanned over the white identical bandages on either side of his son's face. To the bruised neck. To his bandaged shoulder and arm secured in a sling, and to the handcuffs that bound him to the hospital gurney. His son hadn’t just fallen from grace he slammed face first down in the mud and the blood and the semen. Naruto was left speechless at his father's words. In that moment he realized he had nobody protecting him in this world. He really was the perfect victim. He melted so easily to anyone who gave him a little bit of attention. 

There was a reason why their relationship was strained. It had been strained since the beginning. The reason why there was bad blood between them. Naruto heard the whispers growing up of what happened the day he was born, and when Naruto was ten he asked his father for the truth and Minato confirmed it. When the doctors performed the emergency cesarean section Minato and Kushina were given a choice. To save Naruto's life or to save Kushina's life? Minato begged the doctors to save Kushina's life. To Minato her life was more important than the fetus that was killing her. To Minato her life was the most important, most precious, life in all of Konoha.

But to Kushina...she begged the doctor's to save Naruto's life. To Kushina the precious child she carried inside for nine months, she felt grow, and move inside her. She loved more than anything. She wanted to meet Naruto, wanted to raise Naruto, and wanted to see the wonderful child he would grow up to become. To Kushina, Naruto's life was the most important, most precious life in all of Konoha. She would gladly give her life up over and over and over again. No matter the universe. No matter the timeline. It was her final gift to her son. Minato resented Naruto ever since the doctor's cut the cord and Kushina bled out on the hospital gurney. He couldn't even bring himself to look at his newborn son as he held onto Kushina's lifeless body. It was something Naruto felt grow every time Minato pushed him away. 

"Would you have been happier if I just died? Maybe you're even wishing the bullet struck my heart? Maybe it would have been easier for you to explain." Naruto asked point blank. The color in his eyes had drained. The light in his eyes was blown out. Shadows darkened under Naruto’s eyes. The darkness that Naruto felt deep inside was leaking out. The darkness was slowly consuming him. Like a sickness. Slowly at first and then all at once. The expression Naruto had frightened Minato and he took a step back. 

"N-no…" Minato spoke shaking his head. A voice barely above a whisper. 

"Liar! Just admit it why are you hiding? It's just you and me dad! You never wanted me, and you'd be better off if I was dead. ADMIT IT! YOU COWARD!" 

Naruto screamed like an animal, and Minato's face twisted up into irrevocable dejection. Naruto's face had twisted up into something inhumane. Something beastly and fierce from a cannibalistic tribe in the middle of the amazon. Naruto had turned into something feral and wild, as if being dragged from the jungle and forced into civilization. The Naruto before Minato was not the same warm smiling, good natured, charismatic boy. A foreign spirit took control. A parasite burrowed deep inside Naruto and sucked out everything that made Naruto...Naruto. Leaving only a shell of him...leaving just a shell of his likeness. An imposter.

' _What have I done?_ ' Minato thought as he grabbed hold of Naruto again wrapping both arms around him. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry Naruto." 

Minato kept repeating it even as Naruto began to struggle. He tried to pull away but Minato held on. 

"Let go of me! I HATE YOU!"

Minato didn't. He continued to hold onto his son as he continued to struggle and scream. Much like a wounded bear caught in a bear trap. Loud and guttural and painful. The scream shook Minato's very existence.

"Naruto...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry! I love you! I love you! I love you! You are my son. You cannot leave this world yet! You cannot leave me too! Please...don’t leave me too you’re all I have! I just wanted you kept safe. Your right. It's my fault. Everything is my fault! I'm so sorry!" 

Minato spoke reverently as tears spilled down his face. He brought Naruto to his chest and rocked him. Naruto’s energy levels were depleted and he stopped struggling and allowed his father to hold him. He didn’t believe the words his father spoke. They were nothing but pretty, dressed up, lies. He didn’t believe his father. Not. One. Bit. He stopped struggling and allowed his father to hold him and to rock him.

There was a darkness inside Minato, and Naruto felt it, because that darkness was inside him too.

*****

Sasuke walked down the hospital corridor. There was a sickly smell of disinfectant that made the air stale and sterile. The filtered air was trying to mask the bloodborne pathogens, the sickness and the death that permeated throughout the hospital. It wasn’t doing a good job. He reached Naruto's room on the recovery floor. The door was open. Sasuke peeked into the open room and saw the blonde was handcuffed to the hospital gurney, laying prostrate and looking out the window watching the rain. 

Naruto was alone. Sasuke’s heart quickened as he entered the hospital room, sliding the door closed behind him. There was a flash of lightning followed by a loud booming noise of angry thunder. Naruto jerked his head at the sound of the door closing and the sound of footsteps. He wanted to see who else was there to verbally assault him. Only instead he saw Sasuke. Naruto pulled himself upwards his wrist banging against the cuffs as he straightened himself up. Sasuke took notice of the identical bandages on either side of Naruto’s face. 

"Sasuke?! What are you doing here?" Naruto asked surprised. He was kinda hoping they would ban visitors like last time, only, it wasn't the same as last time. This time it was all over the media. Last time Shisui kept everything under lock and key. This time...Sasuke was here. 

Sasuke trailed his eyes to Naruto's left wrist which was bruised in a bracelet of purples, and blues, and blacks, and fastened tightly to the railing. Bringing his eyes to the bandages peeking through the hospital gown around Naruto's right shoulder, to his right arm secured in a black sling. Finally bringing his eyes to Naruto's neck which mirrored the ligature marks on his wrist, which resembled a bruised necklace. He brought his eyes up to meet Naruto's. There was no color left in Naruto's eyes. They were the color of the ocean on a moonless night.

"What am I doing here?" Sasuke repeated as everything flooded to the surface. "What are _you_ doing here Naruto?" He wasn't supposed to be here in the hospital. He was supposed to be back on campus inside their shared dormitory watching movies and playing uno.

Naruto’s eyes widened and his mouth closed. He wasn’t able to respond. Sasuke wasn't going to accept his silence as an answer. 

“Tell me Naruto! Explain to me...why are you here?” 

Sasuke's eyes shifted to the remote on the bedside table. He grabbed it, pointed it to the television that was secured to the wall, and turned it on. The once black screen illuminated light and focused on the news station. Two reporters sat reading off the teleprompter. The BREAKING NEWS banner now displayed ‘ _Uzumaki Naruto Allegedly Killed His Assailant_ ’. It was over every news channel. It was the scandal of the century and all eyes were focused on it like hungry hound dogs lapping it up.

Naruto moved his bloodshot red eyes to the television screen. FM radio static filled his skull. The reporters were moving their mouths but Naruto wasn't able to comprehend. All he heard emitting from their mouths was white noise. There was a reason why the television was off. He swallowed. Every pain receptor in his body was vibrating. Everything hurt. A dull throbbing pain manifested on every inch of his body inside and out, but what hurt more was the pain coming from his heart seeing Sasuke here in his hospital room.

"If you already know the answer...why bother even asking?" Naruto replied bringing his attention back to Sasuke. His voice was weak and hoarse. Distant, as if Naruto was moving further and further away from Sasuke and he had to strain his ears to hear him. He turned the TV off and threw the remote at Naruto. It missed Naruto and shattered against the window. Naruto flinched as the remote broke apart and crashed to the floor. 

“How many Naruto?”

“How many wha-”

“How many men paid to fuck you? Five? fifteen? twenty-five? fifty?”

Naruto turned away, biting his bottom lip. He wanted to cry. There was a feeling of overwhelming desolation. He had managed to single handedly destroy everything he loved. He couldn’t bare to bring himself to see the expression Sasuke was wearing. There was another clap of thunder. This time louder. This time closer. Naruto winced. His heartbeat increased. He froze. He couldn't think. He couldn't speak. He couldn't escape. He shut down. 

"You gave me fucking syphilis!" 

Sasuke screamed as he pulled from his pocket the orange prescription bottle and threw it at Naruto. The pill bottle struck Naruto in the chest and dropped into his lap. It wasn't like Naruto could pick up the bottle. One hand was handcuffed, and the other useless and secured in a sling. There was movement coming from the door. They weren't alone anymore. Perfect timing.

"What did you say?" Sakura asked as she opened the hospital door. Naruto looked fearfully at Sakura. The look she had on her features was of pure disgust. There was no softness on her features. It was pointed and sharp. He turned his attention to Sasuke who glowered at him. Expecting an answer. It only made Naruto grow more uneasy with the added audience. 

"You can't get syphilis from a blowjob." Naruto replied defensively. He wiggled his body and watched the orange prescription bottle roll off his lap. Naruto read ' _Doxycycline_ ' on the prescription bottle as it stopped rolling. Syphilis? 

Naruto was confused by the birds and the bees. He didn’t know anything about making love. What he did know was dirty, filthy, sex. The kind that was fast and hard and penetrating. The kind that hurt and left marks and bruises and welts. The kind that made it difficult to walk, difficult to shit, and left him waking up screaming in the middle of the night. He knew about those kinds of things...but things like syphilis...he knew nothing. It was an abstract thought...something that dirty people contracted. Something designated to sluts...and... 

_’Oh yeah’_...Naruto thought as he looked at the handcuffs around his bruised wrist. ‘ _That’s me...I’m dirty. I’m the slut._ ’ 

"Are you fucking retarded?" Sasuke yelled. Naruto refused to look at him. It was the catalyst added to the fire that exploded deep inside. He wasn't going to accept any silence from Naruto. He walked over and punched Naruto across the jaw. 

"Fucksake, Sasuke! What do you want from me!" Naruto yelled finally turning to look at Sasuke.

"You're a fucking prostitute? How many people have fucked you?" 

Sasuke yelled as he grabbed hold of Naruto's hospital gown and began pulling it down revealing peach flesh blotched with swollen bruises, and fractured ribs. The frailty of the skin that wrapped tight around his bones. The skin that Sasuke still had the desire to touch and kiss and hold. He hated having those feelings. He wanted to suffocate those feelings.

“Hell if I know! Do you think I just fucking kept track?”

"Why don't you show me some more skin? I mean you fucking gave me syphilis...why don't you give me something else besides a goddamn blowjob? Or is that only for paying customers?" Sasuke continued his voice filled with hurt and hate.

"Stop it!" Naruto screamed at Sasuke's words and fingers stripping him. 

Sasuke grabbed hold of Naruto's neck. His fingers brushed against the horizontal scar from where the serrated blade sliced across. The memento from Naruto's first encounter with Biwa Juzo. Sasuke grabbed hold of Naruto’s chin and lifted his head up. There was another flash of lightning. Sasuke rubbed his thumb against Naruto’s bottom lip. His lips were dehydrated and swollen, and his bottom lip had bite mark bruises. Naruto remained still under his touch his eyes unable to turn away from him. Sasuke wanted nothing more than to kiss him. He wanted to taste his mouth and feel his tongue up against his. He wanted Naruto to apologize with that mouth and wanted Naruto to kiss him as he apologized. He wanted to butcher those desires he had for Naruto and bury them in an unmarked grave afterwards. 

“Did you like it? Did you like having sex with strangers? I bet you did.” Sasuke spoke coldly. A whimper escaped Naruto, and his body began trembling. Naruto turned his head and looked away from Sasuke refusing to answer...he couldn't answer. Silence greeted Sasuke once again. 

"Sasuke." 

Sakura interjected. She grabbed hold of Sasuke's hand and pulled him off Naruto. Sakura couldn't formulate any words beyond saying his name. Instead choosing to position herself between Sasuke and Naruto. Holding her hands up against Sasuke's chest and forcing him back. Being forcefully removed from Naruto only angered him. Seeing Sakura in front of him angered him. She wasn't even supposed to be here she was supposed to be in the waiting room. He wasn't done speaking to Naruto. 

"Tell me...was it worth it? Tell me. I want to know. What exactly did you do with those men? Look me in the face and then tell me it was all fucking worth it!" Sasuke screamed. 

He went blind with rage and shoved Sakura with all his strength to the side. She lost her footing and fell to the floor. He lunged at Naruto again, making moves to pin his shoulders down on the hospital gurney. Naruto spread his legs and tried to kick at Sasuke to keep him away. It only ended with Sasuke positioning himself between Naruto’s legs. Sasuke could feel the warmness of the blonde, and could feel his penis pressing up against his groin. The blonde wasn't wearing any underwear and naked under the thin hospital gown. 

“I’M GOING TO GET THE DOCTOR!” Sakura cried out as she ran from the hospital room. 

Sasuke slammed him down on the bed. He wanted to feel more of Naruto. Sasuke licked his palm, trailing his tongue from his palm to the tip of his fingers, and moved his hand around Naruto’s cock. He could feel it engorge on blood as it reacted to his touch. Sasuke began sliding his wet palm up and down his shaft. Naruto's eyes widened and his bottom lip quivered. 

"Sasuke what are you...doing here..." Naruto panted and looked nervously at the open door.

"Do you want me to stop?" Sasuke asked hoarsely.

"No..."

Sasuke continued to move his hand in a rhythmic fashion in perfect synchronicity. Naruto’s face flushed with pleasure as his body reacted to his touch. This was what he wanted. He wanted to do this stuff with Sasuke and nobody else. He wanted to tell Sasuke this but he couldn't form the words. He could feel pressure begin to build up. 

"S'ske..."

At Naruto's words Sasuke leaned over and kissed him on the lips. His expression was irresistible. It was lewd, and Sasuke wanted him. Naruto opened his mouth and it became a desperate, painful, kiss which neither of them could stop for a full minute. 

"Do you care about them more than me? How could you do this to me? Why did you do this to me? What the fuck is wrong with you? Why wasn’t I enough?"

Sasuke demanded against Naruto’s mouth. There was pain and hurt in his voice. Naruto could both feel it and taste it. He wasn’t able to answer because Sasuke’s tongue was forced back into his mouth making it impossible to answer. He was upset with Naruto so much he was shaking and the kiss turned wet and sloppy. He wanted to punch him over and over. Wanted to thrash some sense into Naruto. Wanted Naruto to feel the same pain Sasuke was feeling...to feel his heart being ripped asunder. But Naruto's lips were so soft. He could smell the shampoo of his hair, and if he closed his eyes he could almost pretend they were back in their dormitory...back in Sasuke's bed. 

Naruto moaned and gasped against his mouth. His entire body shuddered. The toes on both feet curled and then released. Sasuke could feel the thick warm cum explode from Naruto's penis and coat his hand. Sasuke let go of his limp cock and lifted his hand. He grabbed hold of Naruto’s hospital gown and wiped the semen off. Realizing he was panting as hard as Naruto. They weren't in Sasuke's bed...they were in Naruto's hospital bed. 

“I’m sorry Sasuke...I’m sorry you weren’t enough.” Naruto spoke breathlessly. He barely knew what he was talking about. He was feeling delirious. The world morphed and pulsated around him. Nothing felt real. His eyes rolled up to the ceiling. He was so exhausted. 

“THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE FUCKING GOING TO APOLOGIZE FOR?!” 

Sasuke lost control. He grabbed hold of Naruto’s shoulders and began shaking him. Picking up and slamming him back down over and over. The violent force Sasuke was thrusting onto Naruto caused his stitches on his shoulder to separate and blood oozed through the wounds. It bleed through the white bandages. A guttural animal cry escaped Naruto’s mouth as his body was being thrashed up and down. 

"Sasuke! Get off of him! He’s bleeding!" Sakura screamed as she pulled at Sasuke's arm.

"ENOUGH!" Tsunade called from the doorway. 

It was the voice of authority and it was enough to shake Sasuke back to consciousness. He looked down at Naruto who was pinned beneath him. Naruto's face was twisted up into an unimaginable pain and terror. The blonde was partially disrobed from the waist up, sweat poured from his glands, and his breathing was erratic and came out in painful gasps.

 _Fuck_! He wanted to apologize. Sasuke’s eyes moved to his shoulder where blood red seeped through the bandages and down his chest. The bandages were completely saturated in fresh blood. Sasuke pushed himself off of Naruto. He climbed back to the floor, and moved away from the hospital gurney. He bumped into Sakura before stopping and looked to Tsunade for help. 

"Now...I allowed visitors because I thought it would be good for Naruto. But physically attacking him, especially since he can't even defend himself, is cowardly. Look! You even opened up his stitches!" 

Tsunade lectured as her heels clicked against the laminate flooring. Sasuke leaned over and picked up his prescription bottle that had rolled onto the floor during the scuffle, and angrily stuffed it back into his pocket. His eyes glanced again at Naruto’s wound and his stomach churned. 

"Have you ever been shot by a gun? No? I didn’t think so. Medically speaking we don't recommend straddling, fighting, or any strenuous exercises when somebody is recovering from a gunshot wound.” Tsunade stood at the foot of Naruto's hospital gurney and lectured Sasuke. She sniffed the air and rolled her eyes at the two boys. Sasuke looked away embarrassed his face flushed. Tsunade turned her attention to Naruto.

"And you...you obviously have friends who care deeply about you so why are you trying so hard to squander it away?"

"No. He _had_ friends who cared about him." Sasuke interrupted. The anger he felt was back. He wanted Naruto to apologize and the only thing he apologized for was that...Sasuke wasn't enough. He turned around and began walking away. Naruto's colorless eyes watched as Sasuke disappeared through the threshold.

"Naruto…" Sakura began her voice serious and accusatory. "You...you lied to all of us...you hurt us. What more do you want? I don't even know you who are anymore. I'm sorry...I can't look at you anymore. I can't be here any longer."

Sakura gave Naruto a once over with her emerald eyes. He wasn't even looking at her his eyes stared at the doorway. Bringing her eyes from the white bandages on either side of Naruto's face, to the purple ligature marks on his neck, to the blood soaked bandages on his shoulder. To the raw flesh on his left wrist. It was painful. Looking at Naruto was painful. Sakura turned on her heels and left chasing after Sasuke's shadow.

"Give me morphine…please.”

"No can do, kiddo. The best I can do is lidocaine. Let’s get you stitched back up."

Naruto felt raw and exposed. His semen was smeared on the hospital gown. His dick limp. His body used up. He felt like a frog being cut open in a seventh grade science class. Legs and arms pinned, abdomen cut open by the scalpel held in shaky, unsure, hands. The secrets he held so securely in his hands had spilled all over the floor. The seventh graders were removing these secrets, like organs, one by one into the designated squares on white paper matching them up accordingly. 

It was all so fucking humiliating. 

"When is enough finally enough? You’ve reached rock bottom, kid. The only direction now is up. It's time you start telling the truth Naruto. Lying isn't going to get you to where you need to be."

Tsunade remarked as she moved to the side of the gurney holding Naruto's wrist. The handcuffs had sliced through layers of skin and red pinpricks of blood oozed out in thick spheres. She pulled on a pair of latex gloves and began removing the blood red bandages from Naruto’s shoulder. Ready to stitch him back up.


	31. The Interrogation of Uzumaki Naruto

# The Interrogation of Uzumaki Naruto

 

Naruto was placed in the familiar metal chair inside the interrogation room where the walls were painted black, and the ceiling was painted black, and the floor was gray cement. There was only one low bearing light in the room and it reflected off the metal table. Everything happened in a blur. He remembered being medically discharged this morning and escorted by a barrage of Anbu members to the police station through a crowd of media and pedestrians. He was able to walk and had regained some strength. But his right arm was still secured in a sling and he still had bandages on his face. Tsunade told him his arm around to be out of commission for a while, and when the bandages are removed on his face the scars should be barely visible. He couldn't remember the little details on how he got here. He glanced to the side. Sitting besides him dressed in an expensive tailor made Armani suit was his attorney, Genda Tessho. The best attorney money could buy. Everything was planned out for him by Tessho. To the way his hair was styled and to the shoes and outfit he wore. He dressed like he was on his way to church ready to give his confession to the priest.

Across the table dressed in business casual were detectives Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Obito.

The room looked the same from when Naruto gave his statement after finding Ise Udon's body. Down to the chipped paint on the adjacent wall. He remembered the room being a lot bigger the last time he was here. It felt like a closet and the walls were closing in. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his cheek. It trailed his jawline before dropping down. He swallowed. He felt jittery. 

"Naruto will answer your questions, but if he doesn't want to answer, or if I decide it isn't in his best interest to answer then I will interject." Tessho explained.

"How do you know Yuki Haku?" Obito began the questioning.

"School obviously." Naruto spoke sarcastically. Obito exchanged glances with Fugaku obviously realizing he needed to change interrogation tactics. Obito lead the interrogation.

Obito placed a manila folder on the table and opened it up. Obito began placing two photos in front of Naruto. The first photo was a 8x10 photo of a familiar brownish-orange haired girl. _Kazamatsuri Moegi_. It appeared to be a school picture and she was wearing a Mona Lisa half-smile. 

‘ _Are you...are you the Hokage's son?_ ’ Moegi’s whispered in his ear. It was a memory clawing at his consciousness. Naruto’s heartbeat quickened. 

"Do you know who she is?" 

Naruto shifted his eyes to the second photo placed in front of him. An 11x14 photo of a crime scene. It was Moegi, eyes glassy, mouth agape, throat slashed, body contorted. Her head lopped to the side as if her neck had snapped. She was on the sidewalk near the Chihiro Bus Stop. Rust-tinted blood staining the front of her disheveled clothes. The scarf was missing, the stockings were missing, and the shoes were missing. The parka was left unzipped revealing an olive skirt, and purple shirt. There was a date in the corner of the photo. Valentine's Day.

"Mhm. I only met her once though." Naruto spoke his voice dropping. He shifted his eyes away from both photographs. 

"Where?" 

"The Chihiro Train Station."

"What were you doing there?"

“Waiting for a car to pick us up.”

“And bring you where?”

“To...The Manor.”

“What did you do at The Manor?”

Naruto shifted in his seat and glanced at the two-way mirror that took up one entire wall. Naruto could sense both Shisui and Minato on the other side of the glass. Naruto inhaled and exhaled. He went over the rules internally. The do's and the don't's. What he was allowed to say. What truths he could reveal to the police, and what lies he had to tell to curve things in his favor, and the things he wasn't allowed to say under any circumstances. He shifted in his seat. He decided to start with the truth. It was the easiest. Took the least effort.

"Look...the reason I was even messing around with Haku was because I needed money."

"Money for what?"

"For Callisto...for Adderall! My dad cut me off...and it wasn't like I could go and get a job. It was easy money. It wasn't that bad when I went to the Twin Leaves hotel."

“Just to be clear...were you prostituting?” 

“Yes.”

"So you worked with Haku willingly?" 

They were twisting his words. His mind was clouded as he tried to sort out how he got into this mess. He shifted his eyes to the mirror again trying to figure out where Shisui was standing, trying to picture where Minato was standing. What expressions they had on their faces as they witnessed Naruto's interrogation. He imagined Shisui hiding his expression with the kitsune mask...and his father? He couldn't picture what expression he was wearing. Maybe...disgust. Maybe...mock worry. 

"Not exactly…" Naruto mumbled. He had to be more specific. He had to take them back further. Lay the foundation. It didn't start this year it started last year. Long before he transferred to Konoha Preparatory School.

"Then why?"

"Listen...listen...listen! The pressure to maintain by grades, while also attending soccer practice, and maintaining a social life was fucking exhausting. So, back in my 9th grade year, right? Back in 9th grade I started buying adderall, and it was like POOF all my problems were solved. POOF I could do my homework, study for that exam, attend early morning and late afternoon practice, and hangout with my friends. It was a problem-fucking-solver and it was in a little capsule. Fucking perfect, right? So if adderall could do all that...I was curious to try Callisto...there wasn't any needles involved...it was just a smiley-faced square paper...how bad could it be? Right?"

Naruto leaned forward, resting his left arm on the metal table. Obito stared at Naruto with piqued interest. BANG. Naruto slammed his left hand on the metal table and the noise echoed in the room. Naruto’s attorney flinched and pulled back in his seat. 

"It was fucking bad. Bad! Bad! Bad! So bad that in order to get the money needed to get the Callisto I was fucking craving for I ended up having Zabuza screen John's for me at the Twin Leaves Hotel. That's how bad I needed Callisto. That's how bad it was!" Naruto spoke with a cold laugh and waved his hand in the air to emphasis his point. 

"So it sounds like you had a partnership with Zabuza," Obito processed. Naruto drummed his fingers on the table and tilted his head side to side. No. No. No. That wasn't it at all. They were twisting his words again. 

"Maybe at the Twin Leaves...I never wanted to go to The Manor." 

“So why did you go?”

Naruto looked at the two-way mirror. He wanted to know what Shisui was thinking of. How easy the ground below Shisui’s feet could crumble and decay sending him falling down by Naruto’s words. He thought back to Tsunade's words, ' _It's time you start telling the truth Naruto. Lying isn't going to get you to where you need to be._ ' He could spill the whole truth right now. It was on the tip of his tongue, and then Fugaku cleared his throat and Naruto blinked. He couldn't. Tsunade didn't understand the predicament he was in. If he told the truth about Shisui what would happen to his father? And if something happened to his father what would happen to him? Naruto’s stomach churned. He thought about the repercussions, and decided against telling the truth. He stuck to the rules. 

“I was forced to go.”

“By who?”

“Zabuza...he said he’d hurt me if I didn’t go to The Manor with Haku.”

“So you and Haku went to The Manor together and is that where you met Kazamatsuri?”

“Yes.”

"Why did you move from the Twin Leaves Hotel to The Manor?"

Naruto brought his left thumb to his mouth nervously. He didn't want to. Shisui made him. He didn't want to. Haku asked him to. He didn't want to go...but he did anyways. One way or another he ended up at The Manor. None of this would make sense if he told them. He partially lied. 

"It was going to be more money. I was promised to make...around five-hundred dollars. That kinda money I figured I didn't have to give weak blowjobs...y'know?"

"And who did you meet there?"

"Biwa Juzo." Naruto answered and his affect went flat. The energy draining from him as memories of Juzo filled him. 

"Was that the only customer you had?"

"No."

"So you met more customers during the party?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"I...don't remember…"

"I think you do, Naruto. Remember it...it was only two months ago. You walked through the front door and there was a party happening. Lots of people all around you. Now who was at the party?" Obito continued.

"A lot of people." Naruto said sourly.

"Specifically who?"

"The Akatsuki." Naruto said finally. Needing to give out a name to stop the incessant badgering.

"Any specific names?"

He saw both Kisame and Itachi at the party. Naruto remembered hearing Shisui's voice telling Naruto if he ran into Itachi to pretend he didn't know him. He thought about revealing Itachi's name if not for him being an Anbu member and working alongside Shisui. He thought about giving up Kisame's name. Naruto gave Kisame a blowjob in exchange for the Callisto. Kisame fucked his mouth, jammed his cock all the way down his throat before pulling out and cumming on Naruto’s face. The money shot. He could tell them how Kisame was a two-pump chump. The more Naruto thought about that Valentine's Day the more the memories came flooding back, and the more disgusted he became with himself. In intricate detail. 

"Who else was there Naruto?"

"I don't remember." Naruto lied.

"Move on. He says he doesn't remember. So stop asking him." Naruto’s attorney interrupted. 

"Biwa Juzo...what's his relationship with you and Kazamatsuri?" Obito asked.

"He uh...he uh…" Naruto began shifting around. He was filling with panic and dread. Had to keep reminding himself he was safe. It wasn’t working. He wasn’t safe. He would never be safe unless Juzo was caught, and Juzo was still out in the world. Juzo was still free. Still alive. 

"At The Manor she went into the room with Juzo first. He's the one who killed her...and who killed that boy. The same one who attacked Konohamaru!"

"How do you know his involvement with Ise?" Obito asked referencing to the other victim who was found on campus.

"Because...because he did the same to me!" Naruto screamed lifting his chin to show the serrated scar on his neck. "At The Manor...he slit my throat, and I passed out. Next thing I knew I woke up at the Chihiro Bus stop and I was gagging on my own blood!"

Naruto was panting. Sweat forming on his temples and rolled down. His heart beating so hard against his chest he thought his fractured ribs were going to break. 

"Do you remember seeing anybody else at the bus stop...or how you got there?" Obito asked. Naruto shook his head violently from side to side. All he remembered was Haku.

"Think...try to picture it...do you remember anything out of the ordinary while you were at the bus stop?" Obito pressed.

Naruto was reliving the memory. He woke up to laying on his back. He was on the sidewalk near the Chihiro sign. Naruto could feel the coldness of the air and he was struggling to breathe. Could feel the blood pour down his throat and into his stomach. Naruto's eyes were open and focused on Haku. Naruto heard somebody choking. It was his own gurgling, choking, noises. Haku had attempted to staunch the bleeding, and he kept turning his attention to the side.

Naruto followed Haku's eyes and laying on her side was Moegi. Eyes wide open and glassy. Naruto watched as Moegi struggled to breath, or maybe she was dead the whole time. He watched unable to do anything. He witnessed the exact moment she stopped moving. The exact moment she stopped breathing. The gurgling choking noises ceased. No. She was dead from the beginning. It was Naruto...he had stopped moving, he had stopped breathing. Naruto brought his attention back to Haku who began to administrator CPR while he was on speaker phone with emergency dispatchers. His vision faded to black. 

"Naruto?" Obito asked and Naruto jerked his head to Obito. "Do you remember anything else at the bus stop?"

"Yeah...Moegi was there. I saw her...she was there...and I think she was already dead." She was already dead. He didn't remember how he was transported to the bus stop but she was transported along with Haku. Her body was dumped. Nobody cared if she was found.

"Was Haku there?"

“Yes.”

“What was he doing?”

"Saving me." 

“The first time you were introduced to Biwa Juzo was at The Manor?”

“Yes.” 

“...and the second time?”

“That Friday night at the Twin Leaves Hotel.”

“What did Juzo do to you?”

Naruto explained. In sickening detail. From beginning to end. When he was finished he was panting and his vision blurred and blackened at the edges. He felt afraid. Fear took hold and he grabbed his chest. He could feel Juzo’s tongue sliding across his flesh. He could taste the vomit in the back of his throat. The belt tightened and he couldn’t breathe. He began hyperventilating. He wasn't going to be able to escape from Juzo. He was here. In front of him. Naruto watched as Juzo slid his belt off and walked towards him. Naruto was paralyzed. He was tied to the chair unable to move. His eyes widened. He couldn't tell the difference between a flashback and reality.

Tessho reached out and shook Naruto’s shoulder. It sent the boy into screaming hysterics. He shoved himself upwards and the metal chair clattered to the floor he threw his body to the ground and covered his face with his hand. 

*****

Naruto had calmed down and returned to baseline. Whatever baseline was. He felt jittery. He felt wired even though he was completely fucking sober. The only thing in his system was antibiotics and 800mg ibuprofen. He brought the glass of water to his lips and swallowed as round two of the interrogation began. 

"Who was with you at the Twin Leaves Hotel this Friday night?" Obito asked.

"Me, Haku...and Zabuza...at least in the beginning. It was just supposed to be a normal night…"

"What changed?"

"Juzo showed up...and then Konohamaru." Naruto explained his eyes shifting side to side as Friday night began to broadcast before him.

"Naruto was there a camcorder at the hotel?"

"Yes. Juzo was recording everything..." Naruto spoke remembering Zabuza setting the camera up and then Juzo dragging the camera from the master bedroom to the kitchen back to the master bedroom. He remembered staring at the camera lens as it recorded the entire night. It was hard to forget. 

"What happened to the recordings?" Obito asked flipping the notepad and making more notes.

"Huh? What do you mean? The camcorder was still there! The recordings should be there too!"

"When the police investigated...it was already tampered with.”

"What are you saying? That’s impossible. I locked myself in the bedroom...the camcorder was there the whole time." Naruto screamed. He looked to the two-way mirror trying to find Shisui. His blood was boiling. Naruto had locked himself in the master bedroom. It either meant the police had the video or Shisui. It was impossible that Juzo had it...right? He didn't know why Shisui didn't tell him sooner that the recordings were missing. He felt the walls enclosing. The air grew thin. His brain connecting that the recordings were missing and could therefore be released to the public. He didn't want anyone to see those recordings. 

"The recordings were tampered with...it could have been uploaded to an external source, but when the camcorder was recovered all recordings were deleted." Obito explained. 

Naruto was speechless. The video of that night was floating around somewhere in the world...and if it ended up in the wrong hands... 

"That's why we want to know what happened that night. Walk me through the night. Step be step."

Was this what Shisui wanted? To leave him in the dark before pushing him to the wolves? He wanted to scream. He looked from the mirror to Obito. They wanted him to walk them through the night? He'd have to go back further. He had to tell them _why_ he was there to begin with. He began to think about things. Step by step. He never would have been there that Friday night if he hadn't ran into Haku on Monday. He never would have ran into Haku Monday if he hadn't been looking for Sai. He wouldn't have been looking for Sai if he hadn't been jogging with with Sai on Sunday when they discovered Ise's body. He never would have began jogging with Sai if he hadn't experienced a panic attack in the boys bathroom with Sai being the only one to witness him. He never would have had a panic attack if he wasn't forced to go to The Manor on Valentine's Day. The deeper Naruto thought about things the more dominoes he picked up on his journey. He felt dizzy and nauseous. He decided to take them back to Monday. 

"You have to understand why I was even there to begin with. I heard a rumor that Konohamaru was being made to prostitute alongside Haku. So I went to confront Haku about it on that Monday. I saw Haku and Konohamaru together. I told Haku he needed to leave Konohamaru alone, and he said he would. _If_ I went with him again to the Twin Leaves Hotel that Friday night. Look. Konohamaru was never supposed to be there that night. That was the deal. I agreed and went with Haku. But...when I went there...Zabuza attacked me and tied me up, and the only customer there was Juzo. After Juzo was done with me I left the room and saw that Konohamaru was there! And then Juzo and Zabuza wanted to play some stupid dice game with Haku."

"What dice game?"

"I don't know something stupid...it doesn't matter because I lost anyways!" 

"What happened when you lost?" 

“I WAS FUCKING SHOT!" Naruto screamed. He was trembling recalling the memory. 

“Naruto...who shot you?” Fugaku asked. His one question insofar. Naruto's eyes flickered to Fugaku. He was surrounded by Uchiha's. All the time, and he only liked one of them...and Sasuke hated his goddamn guts. Who shot him? He remembered Juzo going over the rules of the game. The loser was going to be shot, and Naruto lost. Who shot him? They wanted to know. They all wanted to know.

“Zabuza.”

It was a lie. The question was going to come up and it didn't matter. The lies tumbled from Naruto's mouth. He had a lot of practice lying that he didn’t even bat an eye. This was the part of the interrogation where he had to lie. Shisui told him to say it was Zabuza. After cornering him alone in his hospital room. Shisui appeared when he was at his lowest and given him the new script. He had to memorize the lines and deliver them perfectly. Saying it was Zabuza made sense. It was validation for Naruto pulling the trigger. It was self-defense. If Zabuza shot him, and threatened to shoot him again. It was justifiable homicide. The jury would see it that way too. Nobody would convict him. 

"What happened after you were shot?" Obito asked.

"Juzo took Konohamaru into the bedroom...and...I knew what was going to happen to him."

"So what did you do?"

"I…I..." Naruto's voice cracked and he trailed off. His left hand moved to his neck. Naruto's memories consumed him and he was dragged back to the past, back into the kitchen of room 3707 that Friday night.

Naruto had rolled onto the kitchen floor an eruption of pain pulsated through his right shoulder. He heard a animalistic scream, some tortured cries of a cat, and he realized that scream was coming from his mouth. Naruto's left hand clutched the gaping hole on his right shoulder and he felt thick warm blood gushing out. Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes and he continued to screech in pain.

"Haku! Shut him up!" Zabuza barked. 

"NARUTO!" Konohamaru screamed. Naruto looked in the direction of his name being called out. Konohamaru tried running from Zabuza, but he was slammed hard against the table, and his arm twisted behind his back. Haku dropped the gun onto the table and soon he was sliding onto his knees beside him. He recoiled from Haku. He didn't want him near him.

"Naruto…! Naruto...." 

Haku gasped. He brought his hands to the bullet wound attempting to stop the bleeding. Blood red gushed between Haku's fingers as he pressed hard against the wound. Zabuza grabbed the discarded gun from the table and pulled the trigger. A bullet struck the tile next to Naruto and it caused him to stop screaming.

"Fuck! I'm hard as a rock again!" Juzo squealed with glee. He licked his lips as a hand went to grab his cock. He walked over and crouched besides Naruto. "What do you say...we have some more fun? Eh? I'll let you scream as loud and as hard as you want!"

"No! Get away from him! Take Konohamaru!" Haku cried.

"Haku get the fuck away from him!" Zabuza barked as he shoved Konohamaru away trying to reach Haku. 

"Yeah..maybe you're right...I need a pregame." Juzo remarked as he stood up. He turned to Konohamaru. "Looks like you're up kid. Ah...you're even younger than I thought. Mhm perfect just perfect. Bring him to the bedroom, Zabuza while I grab the camera."

Naruto was left alone with Haku who tried his best to staunch the bleeding. He felt coldness beginning at his fingertips and spreading up his right arm, and soon he lost all function in his right arm. Tears filled his eyes as he begged Haku to call 911. He refused. There was a look of fear on Haku’s face. It was the same expression he wore when he was doing chest compressions. The fearful look that Naruto was going to die. Was this what Haku wanted? For him to die? No. If he wanted him to die he wouldn't be putting pressure on the wound. He'd let him bleed out. If Haku wasn't going to call 911 than Naruto was going to have to. Otherwise he was going to bleed out and die. 

Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder. Somebody was shaking him. Naruto blinked and he was back in the interrogation room. Black walls. Black ceiling. Gray cement floors. His attorney was shaking him again. Naruto looked back at the investigators.

"Why did you shoot Zabuza?" Obito asked. 

Naruto was erratic and he shoved himself upwards. He couldn’t sit still any longer. He began pacing around as he explained. He needed to burn the excessive energy that welled up inside him. The words spilled from his mouth with no filter.

"Look! The first time I met Zabuza back in October he held a gun to my head...he said if I moved he was going to blow my fucking brains out. He told me if I didn't go into the room with Haku he was going to fucking kill me. I didn't believe him and then he pulled the trigger an inch from my ear. I believed him then. He told me if I told _anyone_ he was going to kill Haku. I believed him. It was the first time in my life that I felt like I was really going to die...the second time I met Zabuza he shoved the gun down my throat and told me if I didn't do exactly as he said he was going to pull the trigger. There was no escaping. He'd got me and dangled Callisto in front of me like a goddamn carrot on a stick."

Naruto was panting. He looked at Fugaku, to Obito, to his attorney. All eyes were on him. He took his attention to the two-way mirror. Searching for Shisui and Minato before continuing.

"By that point I needed Callisto so fucking bad I just...went along with it. The last time I saw Zabuza he punished me because I didn't go with Haku for over a month. Why did he pull that shit on Friday with me?! I told Haku I was done...after Valentine's Day I was done. No more! I said. But Zabuza told Haku to get me to that hotel room no matter what...and it worked. I showed up...and he punished me. He brought Juzo...and Juzo fucked me while he filmed it! It wasn't going to end...it was never going to end...and then he went and dragged Konohamaru into this shit. When he'd promise...he'd promise he'd leave the kid outta it. And Zabuza after forcing us to play that stupid dice game, after shooting me, he allowed Juzo to take Konohamaru into the room. So what did I do? Why did I shoot Zabuza? I had to. There was no other way...he had to be stopped. Nobody was going to save us! If I didn't shoot Zabuza if I didn't call 911 we would have died. Konohamaru and I were going to die in that room if I didn't. Do you get it now?! Why I had to do it!"

"Are you saying in that moment you planned to kill Zabuza?" Obito asked. Naruto spun around and gave Obito an incredulous look in complete disbelief. Was he not listening? He kept twisting his words. Naruto had the script in his hand. He knew what to say.

"Planned? Ha! There was no plan it was all instinct." Naruto spoke his voice high-pitched. His eyes wide and wild. Like a feral cat. Pacing back and forth bringing his thumb to his mouth where he chewed the skin around the nail. He was unhinged. He'd have to give them more details maybe then they'd understand. 

"I told Zabuza I wanted to go into the room with Juzo...told him...I needed to go into the room. I thought if I could just get in that room with Juzo than he wuldn't kill Konohamaru. And Zabuza? He told me 'it will be fine'. Zabuza said it would be fine and if I wanted to get fucked so bad he'd do it...told me I didn't need Juzo."

Naruto continued describing the rest of the night in complete and utter mania. 

"Zabuza pointed the gun at me and demanded I suck him off to get things started. So while his cock was in my mouth I watched as he closed his eyes. He loosened his grip on the gun. I grabbed it. By the time he knew what was happening it was too late. I pointed the gun at his face and pulled the trigger. I didn’t even think about it...by the time I realized what I had done...he was already dead."

Naruto slammed his hand back down on the metal table causing his attorney to jump back. He was leaning over the table and leaned closer to Obito’s face. So close Naruto could see the pores on Obito’s nose. Did he make it clear? Did he make them understand? 

"Did I describe it in enough detail? Maybe I should describe what it felt like to give a blowjob while my shoulder was blown to bits and bleeding out on the kitchen floor? While I heard Konohamaru's screams coming from the bedroom? So you see...I had no choice. Tell me...what would you have done?" Naruto said with a crazed smile. Obito pulled away from Naruto and straightened up. The actions of the blonde had unnerved him. He glanced at Fugaku who seemed to watch Naruto with sick fascination. It was like watching two trains collide into each other unable to turn away. 

"What happened with Juzo?" Obito asked. Naruto straightened up and continued pacing around the room.

Naruto recalled the final events of the night. He dropped the gun as Zabuza's lifeless body fell on top of him. Flecks of blood, bone, and brain matter splashed onto Naruto's face. Zabuza was thick and heavy and crushed hard against him. He was screaming again. It was the only reaction he had. He pissed himself. Warm piss sprayed everywhere. Naruto’s blood and piss mixed together. The liquid mixture further spilled across the kitchen tiles. 

Haku rolled Zabuza off of Naruto. Haku was screaming something inaudible as his hands found themselves to Zabuza's face. Naruto was in shock. Nothing made sense. He was dressed only in a button up shirt. Blood soaked through the white fabric and continued pouring from the bullet wound. He needed to call for help. He needed to call 911. 

Naruto pulled from Zabuza's coat pocket his cell phone and crawled on all fours to behind the kitchen island. There, back pressed against the kitchen island, he called emergency dispatchers. In detail he explained he had shot and killed Zabuza, that dispatchers needed to send an ambulance and the police. Naruto explained that Juzo was going to kill Konohamaru. Naruto gave the location, and the urgency in his voice transmitted through to the male emergency dispatcher on the other line.

Naruto ended the call and dialed Shisui's phone number. Naruto wanted to be the one to tell Shisui...to tell Shusui what he did...wanted to hear Shisui's response as he told him what he'd done. That Naruto took care of it because Shisui couldn’t or wouldn’t. 

It was during the phone call with Shisui when a dark shadow fell upon Naruto. He looked up. It was Juzo. He was leaning over the kitchen island. A smiled cracked his face in two. He was pointing the barrel of the gun at Naruto. 

Naruto was moving on pure instinct. Dropping the phone, he scrambled upwards, just as Juzo pulled the trigger once, and then once more with feeling. BANG. BANG. Naruto fled from the kitchen. Everything was moving in slow motion. Naruto could feel his own urine rolling down his legs, could feel the blood pour out the wound with each heartbeat, could feel the last of Juzo's semen leaking out of his asshole, and could feel the sweat pore out of every single pore. 

Naruto left the kitchen. Time moved slow. It felt as if he was running with cement shoes on. He ran into the master bedroom. His eyes transfixed on the camcorder that was set up. It didn't feel real. It was as if someone, outside of himself, was controlling his life. Naruto grabbed hold of the bedroom door and slammed it shut, his left hand fumbling with the lock, but he clicked it into place, just as Juzo's body slammed up against the door, his fists pounding on the wood and screaming for Naruto to let him in.

Naruto had fallen backwards and he crab crawled backwards. His eyes focused on the locked door. Afraid at any minute the door was going to give in and Juzo was going to appear. He bumped into something warm, something solid. Naruto turned to see Konohamaru. Naked. Throat slashed. Caste aside on the floor like a piece of trash. Forgotten. The bodies kept piling up all around him. When was it going to stop?

A blood red stain haloed around Konohamaru's head. He looked like a religious figure in a painting. He looked...horrifyingly beautiful.

*****

Naruto was finished. He exhaled loudly. A long deafening silence filled the room. So quiet a pin drop could be heard. All sets of eyes trained on him.

Naruto then turned to both detectives and asked. "So. Anymore questions?"


	32. Photo Finish

# Photo Finish 

 

Three men were standing shoulder to shoulder in the backroom watching through the two-way mirror the interrogation of Uzumaki Naruto. Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Shisui, and District Attorney Gekko Hayate.

"What did the tox report say for Naruto for Friday night?" Hayate asked his eyes transfixed on Naruto's erratic behavior. It was like watching a train wreck even though he wanted to turn away, he couldn't, his sick curiosity kept his eyes glued to the travesty.

"There were only traces of cocaine and adderall in his system. But the levels were low, and Tsunade will testify that the last time Naruto had cocaine and adderall was on or about Wednesday night. The hair follicle tested positive for Callisto," Shisui answered as he handed over a copy of Uzumaki's medical records to Hayate.

Hayate sighed heavily which brought on a burst of coughing and hacking. There was a coating of dust in the backroom and it triggered an asthma attack. His body produced chemicals into his bloodstream which restricted airflow causing his bronchial tubes to inflame and swell. Hayate began wheezing, bringing a hand to his pocket where he pulled out his emergency inhaler, he brought it to his lips and inhaled. The steroids he inhaled opened up his airways and he was able to fill his lungs with oxygen.

"Are you okay?" Shisui asked, and Minato held his shoulder looking concerned.

"I hate Spring...it always triggers my asthma." Hayate wheezed as he brought another puff of his inhaler.

"Hayate?" Minato asked. He wanted to know the DA's decision on whether or not he was bringing criminal charges against his son.

Hayate continued to focus on Naruto's movements. Observing the flippant pitch of his voice going from high to low, and back to high again. Paying close attention to the expressions Naruto made. Moving from manic, exaggerated, and flippant expressions to flat, stoic, and emotional all within a few minutes. Naruto's emotions were true he wasn't some method actor. It was raw.

Hayate knew the defense would use the ongoing sexual abuse as a diminished capacity defense. As a way to explain and excuse Naruto's violent retaliation.

"If this is how he is behaving and he isn't under the influence...I'll have him evaluated by a psychiatrist. My advice is to admit him to Forest Haven Asylum for the time being. I'll make my decision after I get the evaluation." Hayate concluded through wheezy breathing.

Hayate made his way to the exit, but before he left, he paused and turned around, "One more thing...Naruto's phone records indicated he made two phone calls Friday night. One was to emergency dispatchers and the other was to you, Shisui. What did Naruto say when he called you?"

Shisui turned to look at Hayate and shrugged, "He told me he was in trouble, and didn't want Minato to find out...typical teenage things."

Hayate examined Shisui trying to read his expression, dissecting the answer he had been given, to formulate a decision. He eventually nodded his head, "I see." Hayate left the room and the door clicked closed.

"About the video." Shisui spoke his voice so low and quiet Minato had to concentrate hard to comprehend. 

"The police have a copy of it...in exchange for not releasing it they want you to reinstate Uchiha Fugaku as Police Commissioner. They have also agreed to have Biwa Juzo take the fall for the prostitution ring as long as we leave Shimura Danzo alone."

"Did Danzo touch my son?" Minato asked curtly.

"No...although Shimura was the one who orchestrated Valentine's Day it would appear that Naruto has no recollection of meeting Shimura that night." Shisui explained. Minato nodded his head.

"Fine...but...do not allow Biwa Juzo to make it to court alive," Minato continued his voice cold and eyes narrowed into winter blue slits. "Maybe an unfortunate accident happens...a slow and painful accident befalls him. Do you understand Shisui?"

"I understand," Shisui spoke with a bow.

A week had passed.

Sasuke popped the last antibiotic into his mouth and swallowed without water. He felt the chalky residue over his tongue and coat his throat as it went down. It was bitter. Sasuke let the chalky residue fester in his mouth allowing his cavity to fill with saliva trying to erase the bitter taste without water. He sat on his bed and stared across at his roommate's empty bed. Naruto's comforter was thrown back and the sheet was twisted in the middle of the bed.

Naruto hadn't returned. Sasuke felt relief but also an emptiness was forming inside his rib cage. The news spread across campus. It was all anyone could talk about. Naruto had murdered the procurer of children. Momochi Zabuza was dead and Naruto had killed him. It was unbelievable and Sasuke had to question his own sanity.

Naruto who held the orange ball in his hands when they were five and demanded Sasuke play with them. Naruto who was enrolled alongside Sasuke in taijutsu and trained with him when they were both eight. Naruto who saved Hinata from a child rapist. Naruto who had refused to return to school and holed himself up in his bedroom, and who had showed Sasuke his ugly crying face when they were ten. Naruto who worked in perfect unison with Sasuke on the soccer field, when they were thirteen, allowing them to win the championship game. 

The illusion shattered.

Naruto the personification of sunlight. Took a life. Prostituted his body for money. The blonde was too strung out on drugs. The drugs twisted up his insides and turned him inside out. His light was blown out. Like a birthday candle. A breath of air and then...suddenly nothing. The boy had become broken...and he was only sixteen.

Sasuke should have noticed it sooner. Should have realized the hypersexuality was out of character. Sasuke should have noticed the dilated pupils. His blue eyes eclipsed by the Callisto...by the adderall...by the cocaine. Whatever stimulant he placed into his body. Whatever uppers soared him through space on a rocket ship to the moon. Should have noticed. The truth was Sasuke saw the warning signs and chose to ignore it, because he wanted Naruto. Wanted to kiss him. Wanted Naruto to crawl into his bed. Wanted Naruto to curl his body around his and share the warmth that radiated off him.

Sasuke shook his head violently. NO!

He began undressing. Tossing the clothes into a heap on the floor, and crawled underneath his comforter, burying his face into his pillows. It didn't matter if Naruto was broken he still knew right from wrong. Naruto knew Sasuke's feelings...and what did he do? He went and gave him fucking syphilis. What did he do? He continued to see Haku...continued to meet strangers in hotel rooms where they paid him money to fuck him. Naruto knew exactly what he was doing. He was walking on a tight rope without a safety net and when he fell had the audacity to cry out.

Sasuke felt sick to his stomach. Felt used. Felt dirty.

Two weeks passed. 

Sasuke's mobile phone lit up and began vibrating. He grabbed it off his desk. He had received a new text message from Sakura.

" _Naruto isn't going to be charged. He cut a deal with the DA._ " Sakura typed. Sasuke watched the ellipses in the corner of the screen signaling she was still typing. " _He was sent to Forest Haven Asylum for a psychiatric evaluation, and mandatory therapy._ " Sakura sent him a hyperlink to a news article that went into more detail.

Sasuke read the headline _Charges Against Uzumaki Dropped!_ Sasuke scanned the article. District Attorney Gekko Hayate has agreed to drop the charges against Uzumaki Naruto in exchange for Uzumaki being admitted into Forest Haven Asylum for a full psychiatric evaluation. Uzumaki will be under juvenile probation until the age of eighteen.

"There were extenuating circumstances," Gekko commented, "After being evaluated by the court appointed psychiatrist Uzumaki Naruto was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Naruto was subjected repeatedly to sexual acts he was not old enough to consent to. The legal age of consent is seventeen years old."

Sasuke continued to scan the lengthy article only stopping when he saw his father's name. Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Obito carried out the interrogation.

"Naruto's statements collaborated with ballistics and described an accurate timeline of events when compared to the crime scene investigation reports. It is my belief, and given the circumstances, Naruto acted in self-defense not only in protecting his life, but protecting the life of Sarutobi Konohamaru," Fugaku commented.

The article reported that Fugaku has been an exemplary detective, and has been working to improve the reputation of the Uchiha Police Force. It is being alleged that Uchiha Fugaku will be sworn in as the Police Commissioner by Yondaime Minato Namikaze.

Sasuke lowered his phone. It didn't feel real. It felt fabricated. Like he was watching some telenovela and any moment it was going to break to commercial. Any moment Naruto would come through the door all loud and bright. Begging and pleading for Sasuke to order Ichiraku Ramen. But it wasn't a telenovela. It was reality. Sasuke's reality. Naruto's reality. Naruto wasn't going to return...at least for the time being.

Sasuke's phone lit back up and vibrated. It was Sakura again. " _He'll finally get the help he needs._ " Sasuke didn't answer. Left Sakura on read.

April showers bring May flowers.

It was a torrential downpour and Sasuke could barely see in front of him. Sheets of rain pelted his face and he had to squint to see. His soccer jersey was drenched, his shorts drenched, and his cleats drenched. Everything weighed him down. Sasuke was dribbling the soccer ball up the pitch. The field beneath him was soggy and muddy making him trip.

Kakashi was working them overtime. Calling for both morning and afternoon practices in preparation for the championship game.

Suigetsu, the sweeper, appeared and attempted to steal the ball back. On instinct Sasuke kicked the ball to the right and he turned his head expecting to see a familiar blonde appear and take control of the ball. Something that happened so effortlessly before. Like magic. It didn't happen, because Naruto wasn't here. Stupid.

"Where are you passing the ball to Sasuke?" Kakashi yelled from the sidelines and he blew his whistle in irritation. "Alright...alright...everybody clear out and hit the showers! I've had enough looking at you."

"Dude what the hell is going on with you on the field?" Suigetsu asked as he followed Sasuke into the locker room.

"I think the rain was messing with my vision," Sasuke defended as he grabbed a towel from his locker and began patting his face.

"You need to get your eyes checked, dude! You can't be pulling that shit during an actual game. We're going to win the championship! Remember?"

"Funny you say that...I actually did get my eyes checked...and I actually do need lenses," Sasuke shrugged recalling the headaches he had been getting on a daily basis. First thinking it was stress related, then after his vision kept blurring he decided to go to the optometrist. Sure enough he needed corrective lenses. Sasuke decided to get contacts. Only when the optometrist convinced Sasuke a pair of lenses was good just in case, he ordered a pair of wire rectangular lenses too.

Ah. They should be ready for pick up today.

"What! Four-eyes? Hey...finally your attractiveness will decrease, which means mine with increase!" Suigetsu spoke with high energy, slamming a foot on the bench, and pumping a fist in the air. Sasuke rolled his eyes, grabbed his shower caddy, and walked away.

Life continued.

May

 

They lost the championship game.

 

June

It was late afternoon and Sasuke was studying on the second floor of the library. He had his mathematics final tomorrow. Then he would have successfully completed his tenth grade year. He was dressed in a short-sleeved button-up t-shirt, navy tie expertly tied in a windsor knot. The days were growing longer, lighter, and warmer. Today was particularly hot, and the air conditioning in the library was broken, causing Sasuke to lose interest quick in studying. Sasuke twirled the pen around and stared at his completed mathematics study guides.

The numbers began blurring together and he blinked rubbing his eyes with his fingers. His contacts began to itch and he wanted to quickly remove them.

"Sasuke!" a familiar voice boomed. 

Sasuke opened his eyes and saw Ino leaning over the desk and waving. Sasuke's eyes trailed to the plaid skirt that was rolled up, and definitely not regulation length, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Listen," Ino continued as she slid into the chair next to Sasuke her light green eyes scanned his study guides, textbooks, and composition notebooks. She shook her head as if she couldn't believe he was still studying for finals and spoke, "Listen...we are all stressed over the whole Naruto thing...and nobody is really talking about it."

Sasuke continued to stare at her deadpan. Not answering.

"And why should we?" Ino asked. Sasuke remained quiet. "So tomorrow night everybody is getting together at my cabin for a bonfire party, ya know...end of the year celebration party, ya know, and you have to come! So say you'll come tomorrow?"

Ino was the only one in the group that would bring up Naruto's name. She was so unabashed it just made sense. Nobody blinked an eye, but also, nobody engaged when she did bring Naruto's name up. Everybody avoided it, ignored her, and quickly changed topics. It was usually all innocent things. Her wondering out loud all her unfiltered thoughts. How was Naruto doing? When would Naruto return? And how should she act when he does return? 

Sasuke decided whenever Naruto's name was brought up he would solve complex mathematical equations in his head. It worked. Well, for the most part. His heart still ached whenever his name was brought up, but it was getting better. Every day that passed it felt easier to move on...and the pain in his heart lessened. 

Ino was the one who wanted to chase away every negative thought, every worry, and every stress away with a party. Her theory being why be sad when you could enjoy a raging party. Complete with fire, helium balloons, and craft beer. Since Naruto's absence she had thrown five parties at her family's summer cabin, and Sasuke had declined every single invitation. Well until today.

"Okay." Sasuke shrugged.

Ino threw both her arms up and squealed in delight, "Yay!"

*****

Sasuke stepped out of Sakura's honda civic, a present her parents bought her for receiving her driver's license. Their parents professions allowed them all to live comfortably and they wanted for nothing. The life of the elite was fucking fantastic. Things like receiving a brand new car and getting away with murder were common occurrences.

"I'm glad you decided to come, Sasuke!" Sakura beamed. She was dressed in a kimono style, silky, pink, romper and white wedges. She had decided to let her hair grow out and it had grown to past her shoulders. 

"Hn." Sasuke retorted.

Ino's parents owned an a-frame log cabin, with the front of the cabin all windows. It was all acute angles and positioned in front of a cliff which had a deck and stairs leading down to the shoreline. The fire pit was already built and when Sasuke arrived alongside Sakura, Ino slipped a craft glass beer bottle into both their hands, "SAKURA! SASUKE!"

Her voice was carefree and she sounded tipsy.

"We have beer, and I think Kiba is in charge of the playlist, but I told him if it turns to shit I'm vetoing him. There's also a beer-pong tournament happening, and they set up the beach volleyball net by the water," Ino explained merrily as she lead them to the front of the yard which faced the beach. It was a beautiful sight. White sand colliding with cerulean blue waters of the lake. It was serene and idyllic. 

Sasuke looked down at the cold beer bottle in his hand, and knew he was going to slowly nurse this bottle all night. He didn't like the taste of alcohol. More specifically didn't want any substance that would impair his functioning and cause him to lose control. He looked around the front yard that stretched out to the deck, which lead to the staircase that wrapped around to the shoreline and noticed familiar faces in the crowd.

Sakura. Ino. Hinata. Kiba. Shikamaru. Lee. Choji. Neji. Sai.

There were also people Sasuke only knew by familiarity of seeing each other on campus but did not know their names. He was already getting exhausted and decided to sit in one of the multicolored lounge chairs that were positioned in a circle around the fire.

"Sasuke you're born in July right?" Ino asked. She sat at the edge of his lounge chair carrying a thick hardcover book titled _Astrology_.

"Hm." Sasuke spoke with a nod. "The 23rd."

"Ahh! So you're a Leo, my summer baby!" Ino spoke as she flipped the book open and began reading the chapter on Leos. 

"Hmm...you're right on the cusp of Leo and Cancer, makes sense since you don't act like a Leo! You share qualities of both Leo and Cancer, moving from the shy and sensitive Cancer to the theatrical drama queen of Leo!"

"I do not!" Sasuke protested as his eyes scanned the pages. 

Ino pulled the book away and laughed. "Well...that's what it says right here!"

"Ino you do know all this stuff is made up right?" Sakura interrupted her shadow looming over them. 

"Get away! The light is reflecting off your forehead and blinding me!" Ino yelled and stuck her tongue out.

"Shut up Ino-pig! At least I don't believe in this nonsense!" Sakura protested her face beating red. 

"You're just mad because Sasuke's sign and my sign are perfectly compatible! Leo and Libra perfect compatibility!" Ino spoke smugly as she turned around and looked back at the book. She flipped a few pages until the chapter title read _Leos and Libras_.

Sasuke sat upright, his legs straddling the chair as he glanced down at the book in Ino's lap. Naruto flashed through his mind. Naruto was a Libra born October 11.

A memory flashed through his mind of meeting Naruto the night of his birthday party at the bus stop near Kiba's house. Sasuke had caught Naruto leaving his birthday party early, and it was the first conversation they had alone. ' _You're making it difficult for me to avoid you...it doesn't mean I want to be friends...but Happy Birthday._ ' Sasuke's words to Naruto echoed. Sasuke heard Naruto's voice as clear as if he was sitting besides him and whispering into his ear, ' _You'll have plenty of time to avoid me...you've gotten really good at it, y'know. And uh...who says I want to be your friend? Happy sweet sixteen to me.._ '

"LOOK! Leo's and Libra's score high on compatibility, sex, and communication!" Ino's voice pulled Sasuke back to the present. Sasuke's eyes looked at the nonsensical bar graphs and he raised his eyebrows.

"Okay what about Leo and Aries?" Sakura asked mildly interested. She had bent over to get a closer look.

Ino wiggled her shoulders mumbling, "Now you're curious!"

"Ok! Ok! Ok! Plot twist! Looks like Leo and Aries are also perfectly compatible...I mean the charts are the same!" Ino smirked, showing them the charts for Leo and Libras and Leo and Aries. Ino looked at Sasuke and Sakura who were both deeply engrossed. She smiled.

"There is truth to these things, y'know...otherwise people wouldn't care. See, this is why Naruto and I both get along so well. We're both Libras. Our ruling planet is Venus...the Goddess of Love!" Ino spoke as she hugged herself and swayed back and forth. A shiver went down Sasuke's spine at the sound of his name. Sakura looked away her hair covering the expression on her face.

Shikamaru walked past them seemingly following Kiba who had a duffle bag over his shoulder, and moving to the staircase that lead to the beach. Ino followed Shikamaru with her eyes as he followed after Kiba.

"Okay I need another drink I just realized I'm still single," Ino whined. She wrinkled her face up and walked away purposely leaving the book on Astrology behind where Sakura and Sasuke began leafing through the pages.

*****

It was nearing midnight and the sky was clear, and cloudless. There was a quarter moon and the stars twinkled in the inky blackness. Everybody was gathered on the beach. Kiba had smuggled in illegal fireworks, because he knew a guy, and had convinced Choji and Lee to help him. Sasuke felt better knowing Shikamaru was actually the one reading the instructions, directing the others on how to safely set up and set off the fireworks.

Ino was already inebriated and Sai was given the unfortunate task of babysitting her. Ino was babbling about how it wasn't fair that a Libra and a Virgo weren't compatible. Sai was trying his best to entertain Ino and fed into her babbling. Sai caught Sasuke's staring and he shrugged as if to say, ' _What are you going to do?_ ' Sasuke grunted and turned back to the trio managing the illegal fireworks. There was something about Sai that he didn't like. 

Sakura remained beside Sasuke's side, and Sasuke...he was still holding the beer bottle in his hand which had long ago turned warm and flat.

"Sasuke," Sakura began just as the fireworks began exploding in the air. 

Reds and whites and blues rained down. Amateur fireworks that didn't go far up but landed over the water nonetheless. Sasuke brought his eyes up to the sky ignoring Sakura's words. It triggered something in Sakura, she grabbed both sides of Sasuke's face, and forced his head to turn to meet hers. Sasuke was perturbed and blinked.

"Look at me!" Sakura demanded and he did. Sasuke was staring at her. His milky way galaxy eyes staring into her liquid emerald pools. Sakura had a few beers in her system, not enough that she was on Ino's level, but enough to lower her inhibitions, and say things she wouldn't normally say during the day.

"I really like you Sasuke. I like you so much it hurts me...and...I really hope you'll accept my feelings!" Sakura spoke her voice gentle and syrupy. "I think you were just confused...I think you loved Naruto as a friend, and I think Naruto took advantage of that and used you, Sasuke...which probably left you confused. I wouldn't hurt you Sasuke! I really like you! So please...please say you'll accept my feelings."

Sasuke was painfully sober, and was now regretting it.

"Okay," Sasuke answered automatically.

Sakura pressed her lips to Sasuke's and kissed him. He wasn't pulled in any direction. It didn't feel like a home run hit when the bases were loaded at the bottom of the ninth like when he kissed Naruto. Yet it didn't make him feel uncomfortable, sullied, or completely intrusive. He was stuck somewhere in the middle. He didn't like it, but he didn't...not...like it either. The kiss felt ambiguous. 

Sakura pulled away and her smile was filled with warmth and gentleness.

"Okay!" Sakura spoke and nodded her head in agreement.


	33. I Mean It

# I Mean It

 

The new semester of their eleventh grade year was set to start tomorrow. Fugaku and Mikoto had insisted on bringing both Sakura and Sasuke out to a celebratory dinner in downtown Konoha. Sasuke and Sakura had only been dating for two months, but he had already introduced her to his parents and gained their approval instantly. The York, was a Michelin star restaurant and getting in was next to impossible without a reservation made weeks in advance, but Fugaku insisted on taking them there. Sasuke couldn't shake away that there was an ulterior motive to Fugaku's intentions.

Sasuke was fastening the cufflinks on his sleeve when he heard a loud banging noise coming from the kitchen. He made his way into the kitchen where he found his mother on all fours, a glass had shattered and shards scattered across the tiles. Among the shards of glass, and water, were pink and white capsules, an orange prescription bottle, and a white cap.

"I know I shouldn't have done that but you startled me...you know I don't like it when you do that so please, it really isn't funny, why are you laughing?" Mikoto was rambling as she looked out in front of her conversing with someone who wasn't there. She was dressed in form fitting, lavender, lace dress, which fastened in lavender buttons up the back. A white shawl wrapped around her.

"Mom?" Sasuke called out, and Mikoto turned to stare up at her son. Her eyes were vacant. She peered through Sasuke as if he were a window. She pushed herself back until she was resting on her knees, and her eyes rolled up to the ceiling where she stared transfixed.

"Mom?"

She moved her head over her shoulder as if speaking with someone Sasuke could not see and babbled, "Stop it! It was your fault…now I have to clean this up. No! I said it wasn't my fault you startled me! I don't like it when you do that, so please, it really isn't funny...I said stop...stop laughing!"

Sasuke bent down and touched his mother's shoulder, "Mom!"

She blinked and turned to look at Sasuke a flash of recognition lit up her eyes, "Oh Sasuke, honey, are you ready? Where is Sakura is she here?" She noticed she was on the kitchen floor and blinked, "W-What happened? Why am I...I" Her eyes fell to the pink and white capsules scattered, and she moved to pick them up.

"Mom what happened?" Sasuke asked his eyebrows furrowed together and his voice saturated in worry as he grabbed both her hands with his own. Holding them tightly.

"I just tripped that's all I'm okay honey don't worry." Mikoto assured pulling her hands from Sasuke's. She began putting the wet pink and white capsules back into the prescription bottle.

"Mom let me help-" Sasuke began but was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

"SAKURA is here!" Mikoto exclaimed and she began pulling herself up closing the white cap back on the prescription bottle. "Be a gentleman and open the door for her! Go on you shouldn't keep a lady waiting!" Mikoto gushed as she pushed Sasuke out the kitchen, and shooed him away with her hand.

Sasuke's stomach was churning as he moved to open the front door where Sakura greeted him with a warm smile.

"How do I look?" Sakura asked uncertainty in her voice.

She was wearing the same velvet dress, the same faux white fur jacket, and the same golden pumps from the night they went to watch the Wes Anderson movie premier at the Landmark Theater. It was the same night when Sasuke witnessed Naruto kissing Hinata. The sudden intrusive thoughts about Naruto only angered Sasuke as he held the door open for Sakura. It had gotten to the point where any thought or mention of Naruto's name instantly soured his mood and sent him into a spin cycle downwards.

"You look fine," Sasuke mumbled shifting his eyes away from Sakura.

"SAKURA!" Mikoto exclaimed as she came into the foyer carrying a camera. "My-oh-my! You look so beautiful! Sasuke put your arm around Sakura I want to take a picture!"

"Mom…" Sasuke protested.

"Oh please, Sasuke? Please! Just one photo? I promise I won't show anyone," Mikoto begged as she brought the camera to her eye. Sasuke stared at Mikoto. She appeared back to normal. He obliged his mother's request, and put his arm around Sakura who pressed her body up against his, one hand moving to rest on his chest, and the other moved to his back. The sensation of Sakura's hand on his back caused a flashback.

Sasuke slamming Naruto up against the bathroom door inside the cafe, and pressing his lips to Naruto. The blonde moved his fingers underneath Sasuke's shirt exploring underneath. Naruto's fingers moved to his back, pressing his nails against his flesh and dragging his nails down. Sasuke deepened the kiss and swapped saliva with Naruto.

Sasuke could feel Sakura's warmth and he tensed up under her touch. Mikoto's smile didn't falter as she snapped a picture and lowered the camera.

"You two are adorable!" Mikoto said as she looked at the photo she captured on the camera.

Sasuke heard the sound of a car driving up the circular driveway and he noticed it was his father. There was a look of apprehension on Mikoto's face as Fugaku got out of the black Hummer and walked towards the front door. He stopped when he reached the stairs and he nodded his head yes, smirking.

"FUGAKU!" Mikoto cried out. She leapt towards her husband and wrapped her arms around him in an embrace. It was the only time Fugaku had any expression of affection when he wrapped his arms around Mikoto, and held her softly in his arms.

"I have an announcement to make Sasuke," Fugaku spoke as Mikoto broke away and stood by his side, shoulder to shoulder. "As of tomorrow I will be the Interim Hokage." Mikoto clapped her hands together over and over.

Sasuke was speechless and was unable to say anything, his mind emptied of absolutely everything, leaving only the hollowness like a conch shell.

"What...happened to Namikaze Minato?" Sakura asked as her pupils constricted. Her mind immediately went to Naruto, and she felt panic in her chest. Her senses heightened as she waited on baited breath for an explanation.

"His son was involved in another scandal and the Yondaime resigned today," Fugaku spoke coldly with a smirk. He offered no further explanation. He clasped his hands together and spoke with a chilling smile, "So...whose hungry?"

*****

The political atmosphere was shifting with the changing of the seasons.

It began with District Attorney Gekko Hayate being found dead in his office. Apparently suffering from a sudden asphyxic asthma attack. The medical examiner ruled the death indeterminate. There was an emergency inhaler in his desk, and upon a psychological autopsy there were no risk factors that lead to the asphyxic asthma attack. Given numerous testimony on top of consistent medical records the death was ruled indeterminate. Not enough evidence to support a homicide, and yet not enough evidence to support a natural death.

Uchiha Fugaku had become strategically close with Minato and appeared with him at several political functions including the Konoha Spring State Dinner in May with Mizu no Kuni. As well as in television appearances while addressing Konoha in June and July. All the while news on Naruto had ceased. It was as if he was spirited away. Naruto was removed from the picture.

A recession which began in the fall of last year, by summertime had inflated mortgages causing both the housing market and stock market to crash hurling thousands of people into unemployment, and thousands teetering on homelessness. The citizens became anxious, agitated, and hungry.

By the end of July the citizens were blaming the Yondaime and calling for him to step down as Hokage. This forced the Yondaime to increase the power the Uchiha Police held in the beginning of August. And by the end of August, Fugaku would be Interim Hokage and Minato would have unofficially stepped down. It didn't add up. The middle of what happened in August to cause this sudden shift in political leaders was missing.

Sasuke had grown older, more aware, and he was beginning to pay attention to the world of adults as he began his eleventh grade year. Seventeen is a sucker's dream, and Sasuke wasn't going to be ignorant.

The alleged scandal involving Naruto that allegedly propelled Fugaku into interim Hokage did not appear in the media or public eye. It left an unsettling feeling in the pit of Sasuke's stomach every time an internet search turned up zero results. Every news report focused more on the increasing unemployment rate which positively correlated with the increase in crime.

Naruto had faded into the background and took Minato with him to oblivion. Sasuke kept telling himself he didn't care about Naruto. It was the blonde's stupid fault. But...Sasuke didn't know why he typed Naruto's name into the search bar on the internet...didn't know why he wanted an update. Why he needed an update.

*****

"Ah look...if it isn't the Hokage's son!" Suigetsu sneered as he placed his dinner tray down in front of Sasuke. He sat into the seat in front of Sasuke at the table in the mess hall. It was nearing the end of October and the days were growing shorter and colder. Naruto's birthday came and went and there was still no news on him.

"Will you stop calling me that!" Sasuke growled as he looked up. 

Suigetsu held his smirk. But through the obvious playfulness there was something serious on the other side. The nickname began in the beginning of the semester. Even though almost two months had passed it hadn't faded, and if anything had picked up momentum. It wasn't concrete. The elders were still deliberating. Fugaku was still the interim Hokage. Temporary, until an executive decision was made and agreed upon to swear him in as the Godaime.

Sakura placed her tray besides Sasuke and sat down. Her sudden appearance gave Suigetsu fuel and he spoke haughtily, "Ah! First Lady I am so pleased you were able to join the council on this very important discussion."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow, "...and what exactly are we discussing?"

"The Hokage's son!" Suigetsu sang. 

Sakura paused and asked hesitantly, "N-Naruto?" 

Sasuke began coughing at the sound of his name and brought a hand to his mouth. Suigetsu began laughing loudly and tears began streaming down his cheeks. Every. Single. Time. It was a pattern Suigetsu unearthed every time he brought his name up. There reactions brought joy to him. 

"It's been almost two months, and you still think Naruto's the Hokage's son? Nah...Naruto's been demoted he's just one of the regular kids now...no...Sasuke is the new Hokage's son! We're in the presence of royalty!" Suigetsu spoke between fits of mocked laughter.

"Oh...right…" Sakura spoke softly. She picked up her fork and began moving her brown sugar glazed carrots around. She lost her appetite.

"But, since you brought Naruto up. I heard he's going to be returning to school soon," Suigetsu spoke as he looked to gage their reactions. 

Sakura's fork slipped through her fingers and clattered down to her tray. Sasuke froze and stared in front of him unblinking. Breathing catching in their throats, their heart rate increased, and they both shifted their attention elsewhere.

"How do you know?" Sakura demanded as she slammed her hand down to the table. Suigetsu raised his eyebrows and looked from Sasuke to Sakura with curiosity, "Why are you two always so uptight whenever his name is brought up? Chill out you're stressing me out."

Sakura brought her thumb to her mouth and began chewing at her nail, and Sasuke brought the glass of sparkling water to his mouth and swallowed the lump that had formed in the back of his throat. Naruto was returning to school?

"Sasuke you were there at the Konoha State Dinner. You know Konoha's alliance with Suna is weakening, and it's alliance with Mizu no Kuna is strengthening. The only reason why I am even here at this school is a political ploy. My parents thought it would be good to send their kid to this school to show the strength of that alliance. I'm basically a pawn on loan hoping to be upgraded," Suigetsu exhaled deeply.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sakura asked as she picked up her fork.

"Maybe you've never experienced it because your mother is the medical examiner...and thus neutral in the world of politics. But...us children when our parents are in politics...we're nothing more than chess pieces our parents use to maneuver around the board. Minato was never formally acquitted of his Hokage's duty, and the elder's never officially swore Fugaku in as Hokage. Meaning whoever holds power can either be Minato or Fugaku." Suigetsu explained matter-of-factly with a wave of his hand. He indicated their could he a political fight for the title of Hokage and thus the political power.

They were all a year older now and Suigetsu revealed his grasp of the political environment and offered his own explanation of events.

"I also overheard Iruka on the phone with presumably Minato about Naruto returning to school," Suigetsu continued with a nonchalant shrug. "That being said...I just assumed that Minato isn't ready to completely forfeit the Hokage title...besides I think it would liven things up around here when Naruto returns, it's been kinda boring doncha' think? Seeing as the whole school already hates Naruto...makes me want to root for him, y'know?"

"He's still my friend!" Sakura interjected angrily. "I just wanted him to get the help he needed, and he will always be my friend!"

"I wouldn't worry too much Sasuke...you have a single dormitory this year right?" Suigetsu commented. "It'd be hard pressed to find a suitable roommate for Naruto, but least it won't be you right?"

Sasuke had purposely requested a single dormitory, because if he didn't...if he had a double occupancy dorm that the chances of Sasuke ending up roommates with Naruto were high. The universe kept stitching them back into each other's lives. Naruto was detrimental to Sasuke's well being. It's only been seven months, and Sasuke still didn't miss Naruto.

*****

Their reunion was unceremonious. It lacked courtesy. It was rough, and it was abrupt.

It was the beginning of November and it was an overcast day with a high change of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Naruto's arrival came quickly and without warning. It was Sasuke's last morning class. Art History. The classroom was inside a studio where the students sat two to a table in the Arts and History building.

Sasuke had arrived early and already had his supplies neatly in front of him, and waited patiently for the professor. He watched as students filtered in slowly at first and then all at once. Just before class started a familiar blonde emerged through the door. Sasuke's heart stopped. The coronary thief had entered his life once more.

Naruto was wearing the regulation white button-up shirt. But chose to wear the navy blue cardigan instead of the v-neck sweater, and chose to wear the white and blue striped tie instead of the solid navy blue one. Completely different than what he wore last year. His schedule was in his hand and he glanced at the door number, back at his schedule, and his crystal blue eyes scanned the room ensuring he was in the right class.

Time had began to move slowly.

Naruto's eyes caught Sasuke's, and they briefly stared at each other. There was a look of panic on Naruto's face, but Sasuke wasn't registering anything. Sasuke went temporarily deaf and temporarily blind. The only sound he heard was the blood rushing between his ears, and the only thing he saw was white. His breathing grew shallow.

Their last encounter Naruto was handcuffed to the hospital gurney. Sasuke had attacked him physically and berated him angrily...and then assaulted him sexually. Sasuke watched as he attempted to strip the hospital gown off Naruto. Sasuke positioned himself between Naruto's legs. He could feel Naruto's engorged penis in his hand as he jerked the blonde off and kissed him forcefully on the lips. 

Naruto was the first to break eye contact and he moved to an empty chair at the table closest to the door. Sasuke couldn't see the expression he had. It all happened so quickly.

Sasuke watched as Naruto sat next to Hinata, and watched Naruto's face break out into a hundred-watt too bright smile. He couldn't turn away. He watched Hinata's expression light up like a goddamn Christmas tree, and he continued to watch as Hinata threw her arms around Naruto's neck, and hugged him. Naruto was the first to pull away and held both hands up, saying something that Sasuke couldn't hear, but whatever he said caused Hinata to blush and bow her head as if apologizing.

Sasuke didn't pay attention during class.

The professor sounded like she was teaching underwater. He couldn't stop staring at Naruto. He was completely dominating his attention and it only angered him the more he stared. The other boy had grown older, thinner, and his hair had gotten longer. His hair too blonde. His eyes too blue. As if it was even possible. Always too much. Naruto had returned. 

There was something peculiar about his face. Three identical whisker like markings appeared on both sides of his cheeks, as if someone took a serrated knife to his flesh, causing Naruto to look like a feral feline. Other than that he looked different from the Naruto handcuffed to the hospital gurney. The Naruto of today looked alive, looked complete, looked together. Painfully sober. Looked...okay.

' _So glad to see you well…_ ' Sasuke thought and the anger rescinded slightly.

He had a flashback to Naruto handcuffed to the hospital gurney. There were bandages on his right shoulder, and his right arm was secured in a sling. There were ligature marks on his neck and left wrist...and identical square bandages on either sides of his face. Naruto was twisted and broken and ugly in the hospital gurney.

The memory morphed to Naruto crawling into bed with Sasuke and curling his body around Sasuke's and cuddling him, and then morphed again to Naruto's hot mouth pressed against him. Naruto's naked body pressed against his naked body...FUCK! He was dating Sakura. Naruto had manipulated him. Naruto knew exactly what he had done. Naruto had given him fucking syphilis. The anger was back in full force. They were no longer friends. Naruto was toxic and off limits.

Seeing Naruto in the same room caused all the memories to flood back and it was painful, and it was suffocating, and it was unbearable. Sasuke felt the phantom bitter taste of the antibiotic festering on his tongue before sliding down his throat. His blood began to boil and his hands clenched into fists. When class was over, Naruto was the first one to pack his bag up and leave the classroom. Sasuke watched as Naruto vanished into the crowd. Sasuke found himself following after Naruto's shadow, stopping short at the exit where it erupted into thunder, lightening, and rain.

Sasuke pulled from his school bag a large black umbrella and opened it up as he stepped out from the building.


	34. You Know I'm No Good

# You Know I'm No Good

 

Let's rewind time.

Back before Fugaku became Interim Hokage. Back before Minato stepped down as the Yondaime. Back before Sakura and Sasuke began dating. Back before the Konoha Spring State Dinner. Stopping only when Naruto stood in criminal court his defense attorney, Gendo Tessho, standing besides him.

The story took another perspective beginning in April.

District Attorney Hayate had just finished saying the deal the prosecution was willing to offer Naruto if he took an alford plea.

Naruto took the plea bargain. Took the alford plea. In maintaining his innocence he is also admitting that the evidence presented by the prosecution would have been enough to persuade the jury to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In exchange he was sentenced to return to the Forest Haven Asylum where he would undergo further psychiatric treatment, and remain under juvenile probation until the age of eighteen.

The world didn't feel real.

Naruto wasn't alive he was just there. One minute he was there and then the next he wasn't. His senses were numb. He was losing a sense of himself. His body moved through the actions on it's own. Through the initial evaluation by the court appointed psychiatrist, and then through the legal proceedings, until he found himself back in the psychiatric hospital. 

Naruto stepped outside of himself, and he watched from a safe distance what was happening to him.

It wasn't until Minato was leading Naruto back into the psychiatric hospital did he began to reemerge back into his body. It was painful and he couldn't breathe. Naruto stopped walking when they walked through the double doors. He didn't want to go any further. Reality settled in. 

"Naruto…" Minato pressed as he turned around to look at Naruto. He stood rigid and firm. Minato watched as his son shook his head violently from side to side.

"Dad...please...I don't want to…" Naruto begged, and his voice broke Mianto's heart. "Please don't make me...I just want to go home...please…PLEASE! Let's just go home together."

"Naruto you agreed to this," Minato spoke softly.

"NO!" Naruto screamed. "You! You! You always pushed me away. You left me home alone and then made me go to that stupid school, and now you're locking me up here! It's not fair! I didn't want any of this! You made me agree to this!"

Naruto was sobbing uncontrollably. The powerlessness in his life returned at full force. Large tears rolled down his face as the weight of reality, and the weight of what he did, and the weight of what has become of him collapsed onto his shoulders. Crushing him. Minato pulled his son into his arms, and held him tight. The agony in Naruto's voice continued to rip Minato painfully apart. His wails echoed in the hospital corridor. 

"Naruto listen to me you will be safe here...you will be safe and taken care of, and nobody will hurt you. I promise. You'll get help and then when you're all better you'll come back home, and we'll go home together I promise," Minato reassured as he held Naruto's face with his hands.

"Please don't leave me here all alone!" Naruto continued to sob as he grabbed hold of Minato's coat. He felt like a child again being left alone in the home waiting for his father to return from work. He barely did. The white material balled up into Naruto's iron tight grasp. Minato stared into Naruto's eyes and it felt as if he was staring into Kushina's eyes. 

"Naruto! You're sick...and until you're better you can't come home. So please...please just be a good boy and cooperate!"

"I'M NOT A CHILD!" Naruto screamed as he jerked away from Minato.

"YES YOU ARE! YOU'RE A CHILD!" Minato yelled and he grabbed hold of Naruto's arm jerking him back. It was enough to shock Naruto into quietness and stillness.

"Naruto...you're a child, my child, and it's okay, because what happened to you...it wasn't your fault. I will not let anyone hurt you ever again."

Minato gathered Naruto back up into his arms and held him until his words sank into Naruto.

May

 

Naruto sat in the oversize armchair, one hand propped his head up, and his fingers drummed impatiently against the whisker scars on his face. The room was painted in muted colors, and the light was dim. The only decor was a print of Monet's _Poppies_ hanging up on the wall. It was supposed to invoke calmness and stillness but Naruto felt the complete opposite. 

"Naruto?" Yuhi Kurenai asked once more. "How are you feeling with the news?"

She was the psychiatrist tasked with his treatment at Forest Haven Asylum.

"How am I feeling?" Naruto responded irritably, "I'm fucking happy...how else am I supposed to feel? He's dead isn't he? He can't hurt me anymore, can he?"

Naruto received the news that Biwa Juzo was killed while awaiting trial by fellow inmates who found out he enjoyed brutalizing, sodomizing, and murdering children. So to return the favor they graciously did all three to him.

"I'm not going to tell you how to feel, but you should be more honest with your true feelings. Someone claiming to feel happy, isn't acting happy, and instead, acting the complete opposite of happy. Tell me how you're really feeling." 

"I'm angry okay?" Naruto growled. "He's dead...and Zabuza is dead. So why am I still here? I'm angry because they're both dead and I am still locked up here! I want to go home!"

"So you're saying that because two people are dead it allows you to be discharged successfully from the hospital?" 

"No! That's not what I'm saying...it's just that Juzo was the one who...I mean...what he did…" Naruto's face turned bright red and he was getting angrier. "Juzo killed two kids! He deserved to die."

"What did Juzo do to you, Naruto?"

"You have my fucking file you can read for yourself what he did to me. I'm tired of telling everybody the same fucking thing," Naruto shouted. His voice quivering. He was scared. Scared of a dead man. The dead man who still tormented him when he closed his eyes at night. 

"I want you to tell me."

"I don't want to talk about it because I'm over it. I'm fine! Okay? I'm over it. So why can't I leave?" 

"You're not well, Naruto. You're not sleeping, and when you do sleep, you're screaming in your sleep. You're not eating, and you lost a total of eight pounds. You need to eat."

Naruto looked away and stared at the painting on the wall. It was a painting of a mother and child in a poppy field. It was tranquil and peaceful and Naruto wanted to fucking rip it apart, because it was the opposite of how he was feeling.

"...and your behavior was unacceptable yesterday, Naruto. You propositioned a staff member to let you use his phone," Kurenai continued.

"No I didn't," Naruto lied as he combed his fingers through his hair.

"If you're fine, and over it, why was your go-to response to offer a blowjob in exchange for a cellphone?" Kurenai asked.

"What's the big deal anyways? He let me use his phone afterwards...maybe ya'll should get better employees to work here." Naruto said with a cold smile. He was caught in a lie. Naruto leaned back in his chair and stared coldly at Kurenai. She kept her composure. Naruto wanted to see her crack.

"Or is it because you're jealous that I'm not afraid to give blowjobs? Sex is sex and it doesn't mean anything. So what's the big deal, Kurenai? Maybe it's because you haven't been laid in a while."

"You're a child Naruto...in the eyes of the law you cannot consent to sex, and what happened to you was illegal. Everybody who performed sexual acts with you broke the law. It wasn't your fault, Naruto. You were threatened, and groomed into doing those sexual acts."

"Shut up!" Naruto screamed.

"It wasn't your fault Naruto...being forced into those sexual acts. It wasn't your fault. Naruto you were victimized over and over again, and it wasn't your fault."

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Naruto screamed again. "IT WAS MY FAULT!"

"How so?"

"I had a choice…" 

"How did you have a choice when Zabuza pointed the gun at you?"

"I..."

"How did you have a choice when Zabuza pulled the trigger?"

"I should have told somebody!"

"Zabuza threatened to kill Haku...and that threat was valid. If you told somebody Zabuza was going to kill Haku. Naruto you didn't have a choice. If you didn't do what you were told, you would have been killed. If you told somebody, Haku would have been killed. Naruto you did what you had to do to survive."

He shook his head side to side in protest.

"The second time...it was my fault...the second time I asked Haku," Naruto spoke his voice cracking.

"The time when you were addicted to Callisto? How did you become addicted to Callisto in the first place? Everything that happened up to that point...you were being groomed," Kurenai explained.

Naruto remained silent.

"You were addicted to Callisto. It wouldn't have mattered Naruto...Zabuza was going to do whatever was necessary to get you back into that hotel room. He was a predator and that's what predator's do. It wasn't your fault."

"I got fucking syphilis!" Naruto screamed. "It was my fault!"

"You contracted syphilis because you were forced into sexual acts with adults...you were forced into sexual acts you were not legally old enough to consent to. It is not your fault, Naruto."

"It was my fault...it felt good...some of the sex, it felt really fucking good...and I would cum almost every single time!"

"That's a biological reaction and it is separate from what was really happening. You were forced into sexual acts you were legally not able to consent to. Your body acted purely on biology. It was not your fault."

"YES IT WAS!" Naruto screamed and as if all the emotions deep inside flooded to the surface. He began crying.

"You are not well Naruto...and who can blame you? With everything you experienced. It still wasn't your fault."

June

 

Naruto was beginning to feel safe inside the walls of the hospital. He started swallowing the medicine that Kurenai prescribed him, instead of cheeking it and throwing it away.

Naruto was beginning to respond to therapy. He began eating again, and gained back five pounds. When he slept he was able to sleep throughout the night, most nights without night terrors, and most nights without waking up screaming in the middle of the night.

A roommate moved in, and things became less lonely on the children's ward of the psychiatric hospital.

July

 

"What are you doing?"

A voice asked and Naruto looked up to see a familiar redheaded boy with seafoam green eyes. Sabaku no Gaara, the third son to the Yondaime Kazekage. Naruto was in the art therapy room. His assignment from Kurenai was to create a painting of his happiest memory using only primary paint colors and his fingers. At first he thought it was stupid and childish but was now really enjoying himself. 

Naruto chose to paint himself at soccer practice, back when he was thirteen years old, in middle school. He was mixing the blue and yellow paint to try and replicate the precise green of his soccer jersey. It wasn't working out so well.

"Finger-painting...what else does it look like I'm doing?" Naruto answered and he shifted his eyes back down to the paint palette. Gaara shifted into the empty seat next to Naruto and exhaled loudly. He placed a blank white canvas down on the table. Naruto glanced at him. Kurenai probably gave Gaara an art assignment as well. 

Gaara had been at the psychiatric hospital since June, and was just beginning to open up to Naruto. They were forced together. They shared similar fates. Both the son to political leaders. Both killed their mother during childbirth. And both were institutionalized because they both murdered their assailant. They were mirror images of each other from two separate countries. And there was a reason why Gaara was in Konoha and not Suna. Unlike in Konoha when it was broadcast across all media outlets it was silent in Suna. The Kazekage put a gag order on the horrific event, and sent Gaara to receive treatment in Konoha. 

It was revealed slowly that Gaara was being sexually abused since he was five years old by his maternal uncle, Yashamaru, and that during a psychological breakdown Gaara stabbed Yashamaru in the neck. He stabbed him in the carotid artery and when he pulled the knife out it took approximately two minutes for Yashamaru to bleed out. Gaara watched the life leave Yashamaru as his blood soaked through Gaara's blankets and sheets. 

" _I heard about what you did...it was all over the news. I thought if you killed the person that hurt you...then...maybe I could...too. He said he loved me, but he kept hurting me...and then he said...he wanted to introduce me to others...others who wanted to show their love to me too_ ," Gaara explained to Naruto at night. 

"Your painting is shit," Gaara remarked. He continued to stare down at the white canvas. 

"Hey! I worked hard on this so far! I'm doing my best!" Naruto protested.

"Still shit." 

Gaara repeated as he grabbed the red paint and began pouring it on his own paint palette, but instead of mixing it Gaara dipped his palm into the red paint and then pressed his palm against the white canvas in front of him. Gaara kept repeating this motion until his canvas was filled with blood red hand prints. Naruto poured the blue paint onto his own palm and pressed his palm to Gaara's canvas and when he lifted it up it left a blue hand print.

"Do you think we really have any control over our own lives?" Gaara spoke as he looked at his red-stained palm.

Naruto grabbed Gaara's red-stained palm with his own blue-stained palm and smiled warmly, "Yes! What happened to us...it wasn't our fault. We did what he had to do to survive."

"Maybe…" Gaara spoke softly as he looked down at his fingers intertwined with Naruto's. It was platonic. But Gaara still didn't like being touched. Naruto released his hand, and held up his finished painting. The blonde flashed his blinding smile. Even though Naruto had the same harrowing, sexually tortuous experiences, he was still able to smile. 

"Now...tell me honestly...how did it turn out?"

"Yeah...it's still shit." Gaara answered with a small smile. 

Naruto erupted into a fit of laughter. His laughter was a beautiful melody. It was filled with glee and warmth, and wrapped around Gaara like an electric blanket. Naruto was slowly healing in the hospital. He felt safe. He felt secure. He felt less lonely with Gaara with him. No...Naruto was changing because Gaara was there. Naruto derived strength from Gaara. He felt like maybe things were really going to turn out for the better...and that maybe the kids were going to be alright.

That is until things stopped being okay.

August

 

Naruto entered the visitation room and halted when he saw Uchiha Fugaku. Naruto shifted his eyes around the empty room, over the empty plastic seats, and over the empty plastic tables. Then narrowed them suspiciously at Fugaku. He begrudgingly sat into the plastic bucket seat parallel to him.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked as he leaned back into his chair. The air grew stale.

"There's something that I want, Naruto...and I think you're the only one who can help me," Fugaku spoke his voice deep and serious. There was a depravity in his eyes and the more Naruto stared into his eyes the more it chilled him to the bones. It was the same feeling he felt when he looked into Biwa Juzo's eyes. Invisible fingers wrapped around his lungs.

Fugaku looked down at the mobile phone that was placed face up on the table before turning his attention back to Naruto, smirking.

"What?" Naruto balked.

Fugaku slid the phone to Naruto and and nodded his head encouragingly. It felt as if his stomach plummeted down an elevator shaft. Naruto shakily picked up the phone and slid it open to a video. He looked up, and Fugaku nodded his head again. He pressed play.

It was recovered video from the Friday night at the Twin Leaves Hotel.

Naruto watched himself on the screen. Hands tied with a nylon cord behind his back. Naked. On his back on the hotel bedroom floor. The leather belt looped around his neck and Juzo pulled it as he began fucking Naruto's asshole bareback. No lube. No spit. Just forced his erect cock in his tight asshole. From this angle Naruto could see blood trickling out of his stretched anus and it acted as lube. 

He dropped the phone and covered his mouth with both hands. His vision went black, his heart rate increased, his mouth grew dry and his tongue began to swell. There was a rushing noise between his ears, and he began to hyperventilate. Spinning into a full blown panic attack.

Fugaku leaned over and recovered the phone. He forwarded the video. To the kitchen scene. He pressed play, and held the screen out in front of Naruto's face.

Haku aimed the barrel of the gun at Naruto and pulled the trigger. BANG. Naruto winced and he felt it. The phantom pain of the bullet ripping through flesh, cartilage, and bone as it tore through his right shoulder. Fugaku forwarded the video again. Pressed play and held the screen in front of Naruto's face once more. It was the video of what actually happened at the end of the night.

"STOP IT!" Naruto screamed he didn't want to see the end of the video. He knew what was at the end of the video. He lived through the end of the video, and he didn't want to relive it again. He was panting. Sweat rolling down his temples, and beading on his forehead. Breathing in and out of his mouth rapidly. Feeling woozy and lightheaded.

"What do you want?"

"You lied to me Naruto. The testimony you gave about what happened that night was a lie." Fugaku spoke with a cold, damning, smile. Naruto began violently shaking his head. His hands on either side of his skull, elbows resting on the table. The images of Juzo filled his insides. 

"This video isn't enough to get me what I want."

"Then what do you want from me?" Naruto gasped.

"I want you to make sure Minato steps down as Hokage, and elects me. And if you do that I'll make sure nobody will ever get their hands on this video."

*****

"What's wrong?" Shisui asked as he entered the Hokage's office at city hall. Minato was standing up both hands pressed to his desk panting. He jerked his head to Shisui.

"Naruto is missing. He ran away!"

"What? He was doing so good...what-" Shisui began but was interrupted.

"Fugaku visited him, and then he vanished."

Shisui began thinking of all the possible spots that Naruto would run off too, and the only thought was he would go to downtown Konoha looking for Callisto. He turned around to leave, when Minato called after him.

"Shisui...I can't do it anymore…" Minato confessed. Shisui turned around.

"They're going to keep targeting Naruto...I told him I was going to protect him...I told him I wouldn't allow anyone to hurt him ever again."

"Minato you-"

"Find my son, Shisui!" Minato demanded. "Please!"

*****

This was hungry work.

Shisui was working hard to maintain the stability of Konoha. If the political power switched it would catapult Konoha into a state of tyranny. If Minato was no longer in power and it shifted to Fugaku...it met that Shimura Danzo would be in power, and it met the once peaceful days of Konoha would gradually lessen.

"Shisui," Itachi spoke as he entered the motel room. Shisui was seated in the chair. His legs crossed and arms resting on both hand rests.

Itachi closed the door behind him and walked deeper into the small motel room where a bed, table, dresser, and mini fridge were all squished together. There were photos all over the bed and Itachi turned to look at them. His breath caught in his throat as he recognized what was captured. Itachi picked up a photo of himself handing over a document to Fugaku. There was a clicking sound. It was Shisui, he cocked and loaded the revolver, and pressed the barrel of the gun against the back of Itachi's skull.

"My-oh-my...what did you do Itachi?" Shisui spoke. Itachi looked up and swallowed dropping the photograph.

"You betrayed me Itachi...so there's only one thing left to decide. Are you better to me dead or alive?"

"Shisui…" Itachi continued, "He's my father."

"It's a seedy motel room, and I think your brain splattering all over the decor would vastly improve it," Shisui continued.

"Shisui...please you don't understand if I still have my father's trust-," Itachi attempted to explain.

"Minato was forced to step down, and enact Fugaku as the interim Hokage, and I can't help but think you had something to do with the information Fugaku leveraged against Minato."

Itachi turned around and stared down the barrel of the gun. Itachi turning around startled Shisui, momentarily, and Itachi seized that opportunity to move. Wrapping his hand around Shisui's wrist and moving the gun to the right and positioning himself closer to Shisui. Until Itachi's lips were pressed up against Shisui's lips.

All the work left Shisui starved.

Shisui reenacted the training from the police academy and he swung himself around, pulling Itachi up and over his head, until Itachi's spine collided perfectly with the cum-stained carpet of the motel floor. Shisui straddled Itachi, bent low, lifting Itachi's chin with one hand, and he kissed Itachi back.

A kiss goodbye.

There was no time for love and romance. They were all animals after all and some animals were more sophisticated than others.

Shisui pulled away and stood up, "It would be a crying shame to kill a true genius. Consider this you being relieved of your Anbu duties. The Anbu will effectively resign along with Minato. If I see you again. I'll kill you. Goodbye Itachi."

He then left the seedy motel room slamming the door shut as he left.

September

 

"Naruto," Gaara spoke as he sat upright in bed. 

Naruto entered the room. He had been missing for over fourteen days and was brought back to the psychiatric hospital on the fifteenth day. He reappeared like an apparition. The curtains were open and blue light flooded in through the window from the full moon. There was orange light flooding in through the open door from the hallway. Bathing the room in hues of warmth and coolness.

"Hi," Naruto greeted with a smile. He was wearing a thin white tank top. The sleeves fell off his shoulders. He wore a pair of shorts, and flip flops. He smelled of sex and candy.

"Are you...okay?" Gaara asked as swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

"I'm okay…nothing I didn't already do to myself before," Naruto answered as he sat down besides Gaara. The mattress groaned with Naruto's weight. 

"Did you…"

"Yeah," Naruto exhaled and he stretched his arms back, leaned back, and tilted his head upwards. 

"And the video?" Gaara asked as he tilted his head to the side. 

"It won't be released to the public. Ever. I made sure of that..."

"What did you do?"

Naruto shrugged and collapsed back down onto Gaara's bed, arms outstretched. His feet still pressed to the floor as his back pressed against the mattress. He closed his eyes.

"Naruto...what did you do?" Gaara repeated.

He reopened his eyes and lifted his right hand upwards, continuing to ignore Gaara. His blue eyes looked at the moon through the open window. He positioned his hand in front of the moon, and clasped it shut, crushing the moon in his hand.

"I did what I had to do."

Gaara turned back around and looked up at the full moon. He hated the full moon. It brought with it too many painful memories. 

"...'ne Gaara," Naruto asked and Gaara turned to look back at the blonde laying down besides him. 

"Hm?"

"Do you think it's too late for us? Is there any hope of us getting any better or are we just internally fucked for life?"

"That'd be really shitty if it was…" Gaara answered. 

Naruto pulled himself up and kissed Gaara on the lips. He grabbed Gaara's face with his hand and pulled the boy closer. Gaara panicked. He shoved Naruto away and leapt out of the bed.

"DON'T-DON'T DO THAT!" Gaara screamed as he moved towards the door.

"Sorry Gaara...you're the only one who's ever stopped me. I just wanted to make sure...you were still going to push me away."

"Do it again...and I'll punch your goddamn lights out!" Gaara accused as he stood his ground. "I'm not gay! Now get off my bed, and go to yours!" Gaara remained near the doorway. He watched as Naruto pushed himself off of Gaara's bed, and shuffled his feet to the other side of the room. Gaara nodded his head approvingly as Naruto turned around to stare at him.

"You step foot on my side of the room and I swear-" Gaara retorted as he quickly moved back to his bed now that the blonde was removed.

"Ya...ya…" Naruto spoke with a cocky grin as he collapsed back onto his own bed, slipping out of his sandals and stretching his legs out on top of the comforter.

"NARUTO!" Kurenai screamed from the open door. 

"Ah, fuck!"

"My office, now!"


	35. Toxicity

# Toxicity

 

Suigetsu was correct.

The atmosphere around school changed drastically when Naruto returned to campus. But it wasn't just Naruto's arrival. It was also the three children of the Yondaime Kazekage who were enrolled into Konoha Preparatory School. Envoy's from Suna with love. Gaara entered his tenth grade year. Kankuro entered his eleventh grade year. And Temari in her senior year. The three quickly became international celebrities. Along with Naruto their arrival turned the school upside down.

It was during lunch when Sasuke learned of the three siblings transfer. The same day that Naruto returned to school, and it made Sasuke believe it wasn't a coincidence at all. It was all strategically planned out. A political ploy orchestrated by the former Yondaime. 

Suigetsu made astute observations during their lunch hour. He held out his screen for Sasuke to look at the news article. The Breaking News banner read: _Namikaze Minato announced as the Ambassador to Suna_.

"I guess Minato isn't going to fight to remain the Yondaime," Suigetsu commented. 

Sasuke shifted through the news article. Uchiha Fugaku was set to officially be sworn in as the Godaime pending approval from the elders. Minato went to Suna to strengthen their alliance despite Fugaku blaming Suna for their crumbling economy. Prior to leaving Minato secured the three Kazekage's children enrollment at Konoha Preparatory School.

"Have you seen Naruto?" Sakura asked anxiously. She moved her head around the crowded mess hall looking to see if he was anywhere in sight.

"He's in my Art History class," Sasuke answered. She moved her head to look at Sasuke, attempting to read his expression. He looked visibly upset. Sasuke clenched his jaw and his muscles in his jaw tightened.

"What should we do?" Sakura asked. Sasuke had lost his appetite and stared down at his untouched food.

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Sasuke asked. Suigetsu was the only one stuffing his face with food, and Sasuke turned to glare at him smacking away.

"Just because he's back it doesn't change anything. It doesn't change what he did."

"I know..." Sakura answered quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ino asked as she hovered over their table. "Naruto is our friend we're going to welcome him back! He needs our support more than ever!"

Sakura glared up at Ino, "Shut up!" 

Ino rolled her eyes and jutted her hip out as she slammed her tray down. Ino's skirt was rolled up, her button-up shirt untucked, and her cardigan was knotted around her waist. She was pushing the regulation uniform to the extreme lately. Sai walked up to the table with an identical tray in hand. Sai's uniform was immaculate. Choosing to wear the sweater vest over his white-button up shirt, and the white and navy blue striped tie fastened securely.

"Right Sai?"

"What are we talking about before I agree to anything?" Sai asked suspiciously.

"Naruto returned and we're going to welcome him back, right?"

"I don't see why not. He didn't do anything wrong to me." 

Sai answered. He lowered his tray to the table, but something about the atmosphere kept him standing up. Sasuke snorted at his comment. Sai glanced down at Sasuke who rolled his eyes. He turned his attention to Sakura who stared down at her tray. Both had grown tense. It was the same reaction. Every. Single. Time. Sai picked up his tray and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Ino demanded. "Away." Sasuke glared at Sai as he walked away.

"Well I'm not!" Sakura spoke through clenched teeth. "Are we just going to forget that he lied to us?" Ino opened her mouth to answer but stopped.

"Yo," Shikamaru appeared with two unfamiliar faces tagging along. In a twist of fate Shikamaru had become the class president. A red cloth was wrapped around and pinned to his left bicep with 'leadership' written in thick arial bold lettering. All sets of eyes went to the siblings.

"This is Temari and Kankuro," Shikamaru introduced.

Temari had her hair pulled into four intricate buns and she looked hesitantly down at Suigetsu. She caught sight of the headlines on his phone. Kankuro looked annoyed. He rolled his eyes, and sighed. Temari was wearing the regulation uniform. Kankuro wore the button-up shirt and tie. The other parts of the uniform were on back order. Neither sibling spoke. 

"They're the new transfer students from Suna. Their youngest brother, Gaara, is currently in the dormitory."

"This is Sasuke he's the Hokage's son," Suigetsu introduced. The siblings stared wordlessly at Sasuke. Neither party spoke. A vow of silence was taken. Kankuro took a bigger interest in Sasuke and appeared to size the smaller boy up and down. Kankuro was a mammoth in comparison to Sasuke. He smirked causing Sasuke to raise his eyebrows at the sudden challenge. 

"Shikamaru! Naruto has returned, and we're going to welcome him back, right?" Ino spoke enthusiastically changing the topic. 

"I already welcomed him back this morning. Why?"

"Oh nothing really...just lecturing on how to be a true friend is all." 

"Well...as much as I want to step into this grenade of a conversation I'm still showing these guys around. I'll see ya later." Shikamaru spoke with a lazy wave as he continued with the campus tour.

*****

Sasuke entered his afternoon class fifteen minutes early moving towards the back of the classroom when something caught his attention. There was somebody already occupying his seat. Naruto was sitting in Sasuke's seat. The blonde wrapped his arms around his school bag, and was using it as a pillow. He was fast asleep. Having Naruto reappear so suddenly, and finding him casually napping in the classroom angered Sasuke. He purposely kicked the desk, causing the desk to squeak as it dragged across the floor. Naruto shifted awake.

"Hm? S'ske?" Naruto asked sleepily and he pushed himself up. His sleepy eyes moved to Sasuke glaring down at him. Sasuke's heart thumped painfully at the sound of his nickname.

"You're in my seat. Move." 

Naruto yawned showing no signs of moving, and he swayed his body side to side, sleep still clinging to him. Sasuke kicked the desk again this time with more force. This time with more feeling.

"Hey!"

"Move!" Sasuke repeated angrily.

"Okay...okay...I'm sorry," Naruto spoke sleepily as he rubbed his eyes. Standing up he grabbed his school bag and began moving away. His foot caught around the leg of the desk and he tripped. He found himself falling forwards. Sasuke didn't know why, his body just moved, and he reached out. He caught hold of Naruto's arm before he fell, and held him.

For a moment time was frozen.

Naruto's too blue eyes met Sasuke's. Their faces were a foot apart. Sasuke saw the scars on Naruto's face clearly. Three identical, whisker-like scars on both sides of his face. A feral cat. Sasuke watched as the rest of sleep vanished from Naruto's features and he was wide awake. Sasuke's heartbeat thumped loudly between his ears. Naruto's hand reached out. He didn't want Naruto to touch him. It would have been over if he allowed Naruto to touch him. Realizing what he was doing Sasuke let go of Naruto and shoved him to the ground. 

"That was cruel y'know!" Naruto said as he pushed himself up just as Sasuke sat into his reclaimed desk.

"Watch where you're going," Sasuke growled as he began unpacking his school bag. Putting the material for class out in front of him all neat and orderly.

"Sasuke…" Naruto breathed as he appeared putting both hands on either side of the desk. He leaned down and close. Sasuke rolled his eyes up to stare up at Naruto's mouth.

"I just wanted to say that...I'm sorry for everything," Naruto spoke softly. Sasuke snapped in two like a femur bone.

"You're sorry? Do you think you can just say that and everything will be forgiven? If everything could be fixed with 'sorry' we wouldn't have any rules or laws! You're an even bigger idiot than I thought. All I see in front of me is a fucking filthy whore," Sasuke growled, slamming his hands on the desk and pushing himself up. He glared into those too blue eyes.

"I...I…know it's not enough but...I-" Naruto pulled away as if he was smacked across the face.

"You gave me fucking syphilis! You don't know how fucking disgusted you make me. Touching you right now...you know what...I need to wash my hands. I feel my skin crawling. Don't talk to me ever again!"

Sasuke slammed into Naruto's shoulder as he moved past him. Naruto felt the hot tears roll down his cheeks before he could will them to stop. He covered his mouth keeping himself from crying out. It hurt. Kurenai never prepared him for this feeling. In the midst of his own relentless downfall Naruto took a pair of sharpened scissors and cut the red thread that tied around his pinky finger and around Sasuke's pinky finger. Their bond severed.

Naruto had carefully planned out, and was fully prepared to execute his apology, but when the moment came he panicked and choked. It still hurt and it was more painful than anything Naruto experienced up to that point. Naruto placed his school bag on top a desk in the front row and buried his face into the fabric. He covered his head with his arms and waited for class to begin.

*****

Sasuke didn't know where Naruto was outside of the two classes they shared. It gave him a sense of relief. He found himself walking around campus as if walking on eggshells. Sasuke only saw the blonde in their morning Art History class, and then again in their afternoon French class. In class Naruto kept his distance, and they haven't exchanged any words with each other, and barely acknowledged each other's existence since the day of his return.

In Art History, Naruto was automatically paired up with Hinata. Whereas, in French class Naruto was paired up with Sai. Their time together in class was brief and easily avoidable. Sasuke did watch Naruto and Sai closely. They were growing closer, and Sasuke wondered just how close they have become. 

The rumors continued to circulate, and Sasuke heard every single one of them. Naruto was a whore. A faggot. A murderer. His father was disgraced. And Naruto, the whore, took his father down with him into the mud. The halo that once hovered above his head, wrapped around his neck, and choked him, as the gravity of what he had done pulled him off his cloud. No longer the Hokage's son he was free game. Fresh meat. Sasuke wondered how Naruto reacted to these rumors. He also wondered when words would turn physical. Although Naruto didn't look it he was professionally trained. He was the former Hokage's son and could hold himself up against Sasuke. The chances were in Naruto's favor if he went toe to toe with the school thugs. 

Only a few people were willing to be around Naruto. The bright speck of sunlight had fallen into the depths of the sewers. No longer the case where he was surrounded by smiling classmates. The number dwindled to only a few. Those included members of their friend group. Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, and Sai. The rest of the school avoided Naruto and whispered slurs behind his back, and those who were braver, hurled the slurs to his face.

Sasuke wanted to see Naruto's expression as he dealt with the hand he was drawn. But, Naruto virtually disappeared between those two classes. Pity.

*****

Naruto was standing outside their French classroom. Turning the corner Sasuke witnessed an unknown boy slam Naruto up against the wall and whispered something into Naruto's ear. Whatever he said, it caused Naruto's face to turn beat red, and his eyes to widen. It made Sasuke feel good to see Naruto squirm and he smirked. He expected Naruto to do something more. He didn't.

"Hey, let go of him!" 

Sai shouted from the opposite end of the corridor. The boy laughed and let go of Naruto. When he pushed himself off the wall, the boy slammed him back against the wall. Naruto made no move to leave and sighed. The other boy threw his school bag behind his head and walked away. Sasuke passed the boy and glanced at the cold smile that peeled the his lips back.

"This isn't like you..why don't you punch him or say something back?" Sai demanded. Naruto shifted the school bag on his shoulder and straightened out his shirt and cardigan. Not saying anything.

"What so now you've become a coward?" Sai taunted. Naruto shrugged apathetically and combed a hand through his hair. 

"I'm still on probation. I'm trying to do this whole 'be a better son, student, kid' thing. 'Sides he's just a closeted homosexual hoping I'd give him a blowjob on the downlow," Naruto answered nonchalantly. 

Sasuke walked past him and into the classroom. Naruto purposely turned his face away as Sasuke walked past hiding his expression. Sasuke glanced behind him as he made his way to the his desk to see Naruto entering the classroom. Almost as if Naruto was waiting for Sasuke to enter the classroom first. He tried not to watch Naruto in class, but Sasuke found himself propping his head up, and his eyes drawn to Naruto. At the end of the class Sasuke overheard a conversation between Sai and Naruto.

"Did you want to start jogging with me again in the morning?" Sai asked Naruto as they packed up. 

"Okay!" 

"Wait...you're not going to wear that ugly orange tracksuit are you?"

"It's the only one I'm ever going to wear now ya bastard!" Naruto retorted with a smile. Sasuke watched as Sai and Naruto disappeared through the doorway. Naruto was smiling and laughing. He could hear his laughter echoing. 

Naruto was doing just fine without Sasuke.

*****

"What?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"You didn't know?" Ino asked. 

She peered at Naruto and raised her eyebrows in shock. He shook his head side to side. They were walking across the courtyard. The last class of the day had ended and it brought with it freezing temperatures. A shiver went through Naruto's body causing goosebumps to form. It was a chill he couldn't shake. Only it wasn't the weather that caused it...it was what Ino said. 

"Sasuke and Sakura have been dating since the end of June...what's it been now?" Ino spoke as she began counting on her fingers. "Four-ish months?"

Naruto stopped moving and his eyes fell to the cracks in the concrete. The cracks went off in all directions. He was absorbing the information but his body felt like it had plunged into the freezing temperatures of the ocean. It was something that made logical sense, but it was a reality Naruto wasn't prepared to accept. 

"Naruto?" Ino asked as she turned around. The blonde put on a mask. The first one in months. He shook his head, recovered, and smiled, "I guess it's about time." Ino bobbed her head up and down and beamed. 

"This year's Hallow's Eve party is a masquerade themed...," Ino went on to explain the campus' annual Halloween party, but Naruto had stopped listening. Ino's words came out in FM radio static. The world moved in slow motion all around him as he and Ino moved through the courtyard.

Sasuke was doing just fine without Naruto.

*****

Naruto's prescription bottles lined up on his desk. His room was bigger this year than it was last year. It was one of the corner rooms of the seventh floor of Cypress Hall. There were a total of four windows in the room. It was more spacious and faced the lake. It had better furniture and Naruto had a closet to himself. It was a much better room than last year in every single way imaginable. The only thing missing was Sasuke.

The bathroom door opened and Gaara walked out. He was wearing over-sized burgundy flannel pajamas. The pants had to be rolled up three times at the waist to keep up, and to not trip him when he walked, and the sleeves were too big they covered his hands completely. 

"She never gets the sizes right," Gaara complained as he pushed the sleeves up to reveal his hands.

"Well maybe if you went shopping with her she wouldn't have to guess," Naruto responded and flashed him the peace sign.

Gaara rolled his eyes and sat at the edge of his bed. He glanced at his pajamas and thought to his older sister. He sighed. He pictured her painstakingly looking through the sizes at the department store. Gaara didn't like to leave the dormitory, and only did so to attend class, and only did so after he had taken his medication for his agoraphobia. Gaara watched as Naruto popped open the prazosin prescription bottle and swallowed the capsule. He was making sure Naruto took the correct dose. He did.

"Gaara can I sleep with you-" Naruto began.

"NO!" Gaara yelled as he moved his body under his comforter and sheets. Once secured under his blankets he pointed to the obvious red tape that cut the room down the middle and divided it into equal parts, "...and if you cross that I'll punch your lights out!"

Naruto shifted and spoke, "I don't wanna sleep by myself...I won't do anything-"

"NO!" Gaara yelled again. Then silence. 

"What happened to you today? You only ever ask me this stuff when something bad happened to you."

Gaara thought back to when they were in the hospital and every time Naruto's emotions fluctuated into the negatives was when he became oversexed, needy, and came on to Gaara. The blonde would wrap his arms around from behind, hang off him, and try to crawl into bed with him. It was unnerving. Naruto's boundaries were blurred. That was where the two boys differed. Naruto sexually acted out, and Gaara became asexual. 

Naruto slipped under his own comforter. He ignored Gaara's question at first. The were lights off but Naruto's desk lamp remained on. He was still afraid of the dark. The room was bathed in a soft orange. 

Naruto rolled onto his side, looking across the room to Gaara, he answered, "The person I like...is in a relationship."

"Good. I bet he's happier. You're pretty shit right now."

"I know that! I'm glad he's happy...I hope he continues to be happy...I only ever wanted him to be happy!"

"You're not even allowed to date so why are you upset?"

"I'M NOT!" Naruto yelled, "I don't want to talk to you anymore!"

"I think it's good...you need to be single...and celibate." 

"Celibate? What's that?" 

"It means you're abstaining from sexual relations..."

"Does masturbation count as celibate?"

"...I don't know." 

"Wow...I dunno...I'll have to think about it...I dunno if I can just stop masturbating. I am abstaining from sexual activity though, it's part of my terms of probation! But to not masturbate? That's just cruel."

"Ugh! I don't want to hear about you masturbating...so stop!"

Naruto broke out into a fit of hysterical laughter. He looked at Gaara whose face turned red with embarrassment and he rolled over to his back. Gaara told him he was going to bed and pulled the comforter over himself. The laughter broke off into silence and he was left alone with his thoughts. 

Laying in bed, unable to sleep, his thoughts kept drifting to Sasuke. He had nobody but himself to blame. It would have been the same outcome no matter how many times Naruto thought about it. Sasuke said so himself. A relationship between them wouldn't work, and maybe Sasuke was confused, and maybe he wasn't really even gay...just curious. Maybe it was better this way.

If Naruto was the only guy Sasuke kissed...and when he kissed Sakura if he felt something completely different. He must have felt different. Maybe Sasuke felt when he kissed Sakura, was the same way Naruto felt when he kissed him. Naruto was confused by the birds and the bees. He was in a fucked up place to begin with and didn't know if he had real feelings for Sasuke or if it was out of loneliness...out of convenience. It was better this way. Naruto didn't own Sasuke. Their relationship was anything but healthy...and was probably some textbook definition of what a dysfunctional relationship looked like. 

Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura they were together since Kindergarten. Since the beginning Naruto knew of Sakura's devotion to Sasuke. Naruto held his right hand up in the air and up towards the ceiling. 

Naruto had a memory of signing discharge paperwork at the hospital and Sakura appearing. She was crying and she hugged Naruto. Everything about Sakura's actions that day was genuine. She had only ever been a true friend to Naruto, and she deserved to be happy. Sasuke deserved to be happy. Naruto knew how much Sakura liked Sasuke, and witnessed that her feelings of likeness turn into love as they grew older. Naruto didn't have the right to be upset. Things were better off this way. Sasuke and Sakura belonged with each other and if they were happy than Naruto would be happy for them and wish them well all the same.


	36. I Treat You Wrong

# I Treat You Wrong

 

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Hm." 

Sasuke exhaled without looking up. He continued searching through the Art History textbook. The theme for the class was studying the seven deadly sins. Sasuke and his partner were assigned wrath, and Sasuke told the secondary character he would do the whole project. Being partners with inferior characters was too bothersome. He stopped flipping through the text when he came to a Francisco Goya painting. _Satan Devouring his Son_. It was grotesque. Disturbing. And fascinating. It was a monstrosity cannibalizing a male human. The head was decapitated, the right arm severed, and the left arm crammed down the gullet of the elongated monster. Sasuke read the description. It depicted the titan Saturn whom after being foretold that one of his sons would overthrow him one day cannibalized his children one by one.

"So..uh...this...uh Friday...did you wanna go to the masquerade dance with...with me? Together?" Sakura asked her face flushing with embarrassment. 

Sasuke began writing down the vital information down in his notebook. He ignored Sakura's question. Suddenly a loud exasperated voice filtered across the rows of bookcases.

"Ah! Hinata! I can't do this! I'm going to die of embarrassment!" It was Naruto's too loud voice. 

Sasuke immediately looked up. The voice was growing louder. Naruto and Hinata emerged from a row of bookcases, and moved to the table in front of them. Sasuke turned his head automatically to Naruto. His eyes rested on the blonde. Neither Naruto nor Hinata noticed Sasuke and Sakura sitting at the table behind them, both engrossed in conversation. Sasuke watched as Naruto dropped three textbooks down onto the table, his face the color of a smashed tomato, and he was shaking his head side to side nervously. Seeing Naruto's expression caused Sasuke's face to flush. It was a similar expression Naruto made when they were making out in the bathroom at the cafe.

"I-I can't do this with you...I mean...let's work separately it's too embarrassing!" Naruto covered his face with his hands and buried his head on the table.

"It's okay Naruto! We can focus on Klimt it doesn't have to be graphic...just subtle," Hinata spoke encouragingly as she reached out and began stroking Naruto's blonde hair with her hand. Sasuke didn't know why he suddenly felt enraged and he tightened his grip on his pen.

"Tsk." Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance. It was a familiar sound that caused Naruto to lift his head, and he turned around to see Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto caught Sasuke's attention and he immediately broke eye contact. 

"S-s-sakura!" 

Naruto spoke nervously as his eyes locked on to Sakura. He told himself if he kept looking at Sakura he wouldn't have to look at Sasuke. It was Naruto's first encounter with Sakura in the weeks of his return to campus. Her expression, left him numb, left him brittle, as if one wrong move and he would shatter. There was apathy in her green eyes, her mouth in a perfect line of contempt, and her jaw muscles flexed. Naruto could feel the disdain emitting from Sakura. 

' _Ah you didn't know? Sasuke and Sakura have been dating since the end of June_ ,' Ino's voice whispered into Naruto's ear. He looked away.

"Hinata…" Sakura turned to Hinata and greeted her neutrally. She offered no words to Naruto.

There was a vague memory of Sakura also being in the hospital room. When Naruto was handcuffed to the gurney. Sasuke appeared and verbally and physically attacked Naruto. Sakura was there. Sakura was there, and she heard everything. Sakura was there, and she heard everything, and she stepped between Sasuke and Naruto. He tried to remember if Sakura was present when Sasuke grabbed his cock and jerked him off...if she was present when Sasuke forcefully kissed Naruto and caused him to cum. He couldn't remember...and now Sasuke and Sakura were dating. Naruto's brain went numb. 

"Good afternoon, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura! Are you also working on the Art History project, Sasuke? " Hinata spoke respectfully and she bowed her head politely. 

"Ah." 

Sasuke answered. Sasuke looked to see Naruto dressed in the navy cardigan, button-up shirt was tucked in, and his tie was fastened securely around his neck. Naruto looked presentable. Again. He looked together, aware, sober. 

"What sin were you assigned?" Hinata asked nervously. She sensed it. The thick poisonous smog settling around them, and she decided to make small talk in hopes to clear the air.

"Wrath." 

Sasuke answered his attention focused on Naruto. He was avoiding him. The blonde was keeping his eyes fixed on one of the textbooks in front of him. A book on Gustav Klimt.

"We're...doing...lust...it's kind of embarrassing. We're going to-"

"I think it suit's Naruto perfectly. Considering everything he has gotten himself into," Sasuke interjected coldly. 

A small gasp escaped Naruto's lips and he finally brought his attention to stare at Sasuke. There was a feral and painful expression on Naruto's face. Sasuke noticed this as the second time Naruto gave him this expression. The first time was when Naruto first entered Art History class on the day he returned to school. Without a word Naruto had grabbed his schoolbag and ran from the library. Sasuke's breath caught in his throat. He wanted to go after him. He wanted to but his brain wasn't working right and his limbs weren't responding.

"STOP IT! Don't purposely torment Naruto! He's in enough pain as it is!" Hinata demanded loudly. She stood up, and slammed both palms down on the desk. 

"Hinata…" Sakura spoke hesitantly, "How can you defend him? Naruto knew you liked him, and he purposely kissed you...knowing full well he wasn't-"

"NO! Naruto was in a lot of pain at the time...it wasn't his fault. Afterwards...afterwards he explained some things to me and apologized, and I believed him then, and I believe him now!"

"Why are you going so far for Naruto? It wasn't like you were close with him," Sakura asked angrily.

Sakura was upset with Hinata. Although she has been with them since kindergarten she was always blending into the background and never officially apart of their group. She was just a moth hovering around the light that was Naruto. Sakura was upset because Hinata was making great lengths to defend Nartuo...when she had no right...no right...she was practically an outsider...she was-

"Naruto saved me! When that man took me...I cried out for help...I kept crying out for help as he lead me down the sidewalk, and nobody even looked up. None of the adults did anything! I thought...I was really going to die...until...until...Naruto saw me. Naruto saved me...he saved my life that day!"

Sasuke remembered that day when they were all eight years old. Maybe it was fate or by some design, but they walked past that alleyway the exact time as Hinata was being kidnapped. It was Naruto who turned to look down the alley. Sasuke was focused on getting to taijutsu practice. It was Naruto who first moved. Sasuke was paralyzed in fear. Naruto abandoned his school bag, abandoned his new handheld gaming system, and abandoned his own safety. Reckless abandonment and charged headstrong without a plan with the aim of stopping that man from taking Hinata away.

To Sasuke...Naruto was heroic...he was breathtakingly heroic.

The thought of Naruto getting hurt was what made Sasuke's body move. The child predator had slapped him, punched him, and began choking him. Sasuke's only thought was to reach Naruto. To force that dirty man to release him. Sasuke wanted to grab Naruto's hand and escape that alleyway together. But, Naruto didn't take Sasuke's hand and instead grabbed Hinata's and pulled her along to safety. Sasuke didn't care about Hinata. His entire focus was on Naruto.

Hinata swung her school bag over her shoulder and gathered the art textbooks into her arms, "...and Naruto saved Konohamaru's life! That has to count for something. He saved two lives! The man that took me was a child rapist...he was a predator. I don't see any difference to what happened with Naruto! And...and...nobody was there to save Naruto." 

Hinata began crying. Soft mournful tears rolled down her cheeks as if she was able to physically feel the pain that was rooted deep inside Naruto. Seeing Hinata so emotional and defensive caused Sakura to erupt in wrath. 

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Sakura screamed losing all control. She felt angry. Felt exposed. Felt guilty. And she didn't want to feel this way anymore and if she shut Hinata up then maybe those feelings would dissipate. 

Hinata rubbed her eyes and shook her head speaking with determination, "Maybe not, but...You two were his closest friends, and you're treating him this way? I won't have it! I won't let anybody badmouth Naruto! If you two don't want to be by his side, fine, but don't you dare go around badmouthing him! Because I won't let you!" 

She spun around and left the library. Sasuke's hand was clenched up into a fist he felt his nails cutting through the layers of flesh of his palm. He couldn't stop himself from shaking. Sakura hung her head low pastel pink hair covered her expression. The two remained in utter silence.

*****

Naruto found himself in middle of the soccer field. There was barely an hour left of daylight. He was dressed in his orange and white adidas tracksuit, and wearing an old pair of cleats. A soccer ball rested under his arm. He surveyed the orange cones he had meticulously placed out, and nodded his head in satisfaction. He was thinking about the finger-painting of his happiest memory. Soccer practice in junior high.

After leaving the library he had managed to keep it together until he returned to his dormitory. There all the cracks in the veneer mask splintered and he experienced another one of his infamous panic attacks. Full blown chest pains, wheezing, tunnel vision, panic. After taking a Klonopin he called Kurenai in hysterics. She suggested that Naruto channel his excess energy levels into something physical. Making it clear she met something sports related, and nothing sexual. Boundaries, she lectured Naruto on. Naruto dropped the soccer ball to the ground.

He was dribbling the ball up and down the field, maneuvering through the orange cones, and practiced shooting at the goal. He was rusty, out of shape, and his body wasn't reacting like it used to. The field was soggy and muddy. The rainy weather of fall saturated the field, and made running difficult. He sunk a few centimeters into the ground every time he moved. He had to recalculate how he moved, and how much pressure he put in his feet as he moved across the field as a result.

"Oi! Naruto!" A voice called from across the field. Naruto halted the ball, and spun his body around to see who had called out his name. A platinum blonde boy whose underneath was dyed electric blue appeared.

"Uh…" Naruto titled his head. He tried to remember the boy's name.

"It's Suigetsu! I knew there was a reason why you always piss me off!"

"Suigetsu! Yes...of course," Naruto spoke. He nodded his head remembering the boy who challenged him during preseason practice.

"Why are you on the soccer field? I spoke to Kakashi and he said you withdrew your membership."

"Ahh...yeah…something like that…"

"If you're not a member of the team why are you using our equipment, and our field?" 

"Sorry-sorry! I'll put everything back-"

"Not so fast." Suigetsu spoke as he raised a hand up halting Naruto's movements. It was obvious he had been watching Naruto before intervening. He wanted to test Naruto's skills once more. 

"Let's do a scrimmage."

"Eh?!"

"I wanted to get some preseason practice in, and nobody in the group chat was free. So in exchange for using the equipment today I'll let it slide s'long as you practice with me," Suigetsu complained as he held out his mobile phone. Naruto looked at the sky there was about fifteen minutes of sunlight left. He turned back around and smiled. 

"Okay!"

Naruto had warmed up, and was beginning to sink into the familiar swing of things. He dribbled the ball expertly between his feet. He moved, weightlessly, towards the goal post where Suigetsu was defending. Naruto faked kicked it to the right, and when Suigetsu sprang his body towards a ghost ball, Naruto spun his body completely around, and kicked the ball to the left and scored.

"You're not complete shit. It's kinda shit you withdrew your membership." 

Suigetsu retorted as he breathed heavily. Naruto was already drenched in sweat and panting. His mind had emptied of absolutely everything except soccer. It felt exhilarating. They were losing the last bits of sunlight, and just when the sun officially set the field lights were turned on with a loud clicking noise. The field was flooded with blinding, white, fluorescent lighting. Naruto covered his eyes at the sudden intrusion of bright white light.

"OI! Suigetsu!" 

Jugo called from the sidelines. Naruto's vision began to adjust to the light and he looked at a group of shadowy members walking towards them on the field. Jugo was leading the way, followed by Neji and Sai...and bringing up the rear was Sasuke. Naruto turned away apprehensively. 

"So it was true...you were playing with Naruto," Jugo spoke slowly and carefully.

Naruto turned to stare at Suigetsu and gave him a sideways glance. It had just occurred to Naruto that maybe there was more to the conversation between Kakashi and Suigetsu that was specifically omitted, and maybe there was more to the text message conversation.

"I was assessing his skills, and wanted another opinion. Ah! Since there are six of us let play a little 3 on 3!" Suigetsu suggested as he held up six fingers, three on each hand, and waved them around.

"I'll pass," Naruto interrupted. He held out his hand and began walking away.

"Not so fast!" Suigetsu retorted and he swung an arm around Naruto's shoulder, and pulled him close, preventing him from leaving. He spun Naruto back around to face the soccer team members.

"You're too close," Naruto said as he pressed his hand against Suigetsu's face and shoved him away. Sasuke smirked.

"He already withdrew his membership what is there to assess?" Sasuke commented and folded his hands.

"That doesn't mean Kakashi will accept that resignation so easily! Or that I will! And if we don't try to persuade a good player to stay on the team that hurts us as a whole, and lessens our changes to win the championship!" Suigetsu explained haughtily. 

"He wasn't on our team last season," Sasuke said factually.

"Yeah...and we lost," Suigetsu answered.

"Tsk."

"Why are you here, Sasuke?" Sai asked.

"I'm the team captain, so whatever you guys do reflects upon me, and I want to make sure everybody is on the straight and narrow."

Sasuke commented in his deadpan voice. It was a blatant flat out lie. When he received the group text message Suigetsu sent about wanting to do a soccer scrimmage tonight he ignored it. Only when Suigetsu sent a vulgar text message eluding he was going to scrimmage with Naruto did Sasuke leave the library. He wanted to see Naruto. To see for himself if Naruto was emotionally stable and sound. He told Sakura he was being called to do a scrimmage and sent her back to the dorms. Sasuke was being reckless. His goal was to keep his distance from Naruto, and he was doing the complete opposite. 

"Oh. I see. With that being said...I'll join. Even if his jumpsuit is nauseatingly ugly, and burns my eyes every time I see him in it. Plus, Naruto and I have been jogging together in the morning and I know his endurance is good. Maybe we should place some bets on the game," Sai spoke with a smirk. He stepped across an invisible line on the ground and joined Suigetsu and Naruto. 

"Sai! You could have left the jumpsuit part out, ya'know!" Naruto growled from under his breath and folded his arms. 

"Us three against you three...losers buy the winners dinner," Suigetsu explained.

Sasuke looked to Jugo and Neiji who were standing on either side of him, and then back at Sai, Suigetsu. He rested his eyes on Naruto. The blonde's blue eyes were clear and bright. He appeared painfully sober, and responsive. Sasuke wondered if Naruto was still able to maneuver the soccer ball on the field or if he rusty and worn out. 

"Fine," Sasuke agreed.

*****

"NARUTO!" Sai called out as he appeared open to the right.

Naruto was surrounded by both Neji and Sasuke, and he maneuvered his body around Neji with ease. He proceeded to pass the ball to Sai who dribbled it across center field towards the goalie. Naruto felt sharp pressure slamming into him and he was falling down. Losing his balance on the muddy field he crashed hard on his right shoulder. A sharp pain erupted from his shoulder. Wincing and gasping Naruto looked up to see Sasuke. He purposely knocked into him and his hands purposely shoved him to the ground.

"Keep an eye on your surroundings," Sasuke taunted. He flashed a smirk and jogged away.

"Tsk!" Naruto balled up a fist and slammed it against the ground. The fear and panic he felt melted away and now he was upset. He pulled himself up from the muddy field. He wanted to win. 

Neji had reclaimed the ball and was moving back toward center field. Naruto refused to allow Neji to pass with the ball. Naruto was quicker. His speed and agility made up for any shortcomings, and took possession of the soccer ball in a flash. Sasuke was charging towards him. Naruto quickly kicked the ball to the left, ducking at Sasuke's outstretched hands, spinning around, and jumped to the side. He continued dribbling the ball back towards Jugo who was guarding the goal.

It happened again, Naruto was moving on pure intuition, and just as Sasuke caught up to Naruto, he had kicked the ball diagonally away.

"SAI!" Naruto called out as he watched the soccer ball come dangerously close to going out of bounds. Sai appeared, Neji on his heels, and recovered the ball. Sai kicked the ball and scored.

Naruto smiled and laughed. They were tied 2-2. It felt good. 

Sasuke's attention was drawn back to Naruto. The smile was blinding, the laughter was deafening. The way Naruto and Sai coordinated their teamwork on the field was as if they had played together for years. It was the same way Naruto and Sasuke coordinated on the field back when they were both thirteen. Naruto perfectly set Sai up just like Naruto had perfectly set up Sasuke to score the winning point in the championship game. It didn't matter to Naruto if he was the one taking the shot he was just content to assist.

He felt something. Jealousy. It took root in his stomach and branched out. Naruto was out of reach. No...Sasuke shoved Naruto away. Sasuke was replaced with an inferior copy. Sasuke turned his attention to Sai. They sat next to each other in French class. They jogged together every morning. They were coordinating perfect teamwork on the soccer field. He didn't know why he felt jealousy and rage when he looked at Naruto and Sai. He wanted to know just how close they had gotten.

"That was perfect, Naruto! One more goal, and we'll win!" Sai said as ran up to Naruto and shoved him in the right shoulder playfully. It caused Naruto to wince in pain and gasp. Naruto clutched his shoulder with his left hand and bent over as sharp pain shot up and down his right arm and numbed his fingers.

"Hey...you okay?" Sai asked as he stepped forward. Naruto began massaging his shoulder under his clothes. There was a circular scar in the front where the bullet entered, and an even larger scar at the exit wound when the bullet tore through. The scars felt rough and course and ugly and it nauseated Naruto just feeling it. Sasuke turned to see Naruto's face twisting into pain. He wanted the night to end. 

"Let's call it a night. It's almost 10:00PM. Iruka will be doing bed checks soon. We'll have to finish the game another time," Sasuke announced.

*****

There was still a dull throbbing pain around his right shoulder. Naruto walked down the asphalt path to the dormitories. Sai was walking besides Naruto and he eyed him up and down and smirked.

"So, does this mean you won't be wearing your orange jumpsuit tomorrow morning?"

Naruto flashed him a smile and said impishly, "For you Sai I'll wear it everyday." It was then when Naruto flashed a peace sign in Sai's face. 

"At least clean it...I don't think I can stand the ugliness and the smelliness tomorrow."

"Don't worry I'll make sure to wash it tonight so it's nice and clean tomorrow for you."

Sai slapped Naruto's peace sign away, "You're taking the joke too far...wear anything else I beg of you...anyways see ya tomorrow mornin'." 

Sai rolled his eyes and took the path that lead to Sycamore Hall. Something caught Naruto's attention, and he turned around to see Sasuke walking behind them. He didn't know how long he was there. Naruto swallowed. 

"The mud suites you well. I wouldn't even bother cleaning it. Just wear it as is." 

Sasuke spoke as he stopped a few feet away from Naruto. Sasuke looked at the brown mud splattering Naruto's front side, and the mud smeared on his neck, and the mud flecked on his face. Naruto sighed. He didn't answer. He was exhausted. He turned back around and continued on the path that lead to Cypress Hall.

"You're in Cypress Hall again?" Sasuke clicked his tongue as he spoke. He followed Naruto down the path. The two walked in silence. Naruto a few steps a head of Sasuke. 

In the lobby Sasuke called the elevator and stood in front of it his arms crossed. 

Naruto hung back and asked, "Why did you really come tonight?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows and turned to face Naruto. He was leaning up against the wall. Sasuke stared at Naruto as if he had figured out his true intentions. Naruto's face was unreadable. It was beat red, sweaty, and dirty. 

"Because Naruto, I wouldn't want you to corrupt any of the members of the soccer team...you have a pattern of corrupting, manipulating, and lying to get what you want, and I won't allow you to do anything to the members of the team," Sasuke lied. Naruto's breath caught in his throat. Sasuke was shoving Naruto away again. 

The elevator dinged and opened. Sasuke stepped in and turned around to see Naruto was still leaning up against the wall. He made no indication he was going to get on the elevator. Sasuke pressed floor ten on the panel.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto spoke as he looked up at Sasuke. They locked eyes and Sasuke lost the ability to breathe. "For hurting you...and for everything."

The elevator door closed and jutted upwards. Sasuke's face was flushed, his heartbeat increased, and he balled his hands up and slammed them against the elevator door. Those were the words that Sasuke wanted to say to Naruto. It was an apology that Sasuke wanted to make...but only cruelty and malice spewed out every time he opened his mouth.


	37. False Alarm

# False Alarm 

 

' _I can't go with you tonight. I am being summoned to dinner with my father._ '

Sasuke finished the text message and sent it to Sakura. He climbed reluctantly into the back seat of the armored black Hummer. Fugaku sent a car to transport Sasuke to downtown Konoha. A room was reserved at The York, and he was expected to arrive promptly at 6:00PM. Sakura sent several text message replies back, but Sasuke was too irritated to even look at them, and left them unread. He crossed his arms and glared out the window as the Hummer left the academy. 

Fugaku gave him an hour notice, which instantly put Sasuke in high alert. The dinner was a facade for something else, and that something else left Sasuke uneasy. His father never did anything spontaneous. Everything was calculated, clear and concise.

When they arrived Sasuke stepped out of the Hummer and immediately was greeted by paparazzi flashing cameras at him. He held his hand out at the flashing lights. He hated it all. He made his way towards the entrance of the restaurant. Sasuke was dressed in a tailored black suit. The pants a little tighter than he was comfortable with and clearly showed the bulge around his crotch. His hair was gelled back and his blood red tie fastened into a Saint Andrews knot around his neck. He suddenly felt it difficult to breath. He exhaled and forced air into his lungs. He caste a reproachful look at the paparazzi, and ignored the reporters who were bombarding him with questions.

Entering the restaurant the hostess whose black dress was short, and tight, lead Sasuke to a private room in the back. She opened the door, when Sasuke entered, she bowed her head, and closed the door behind her. 

"Sasuke," Fugaku acknowledged with a firm nod.

Fugaku was dressed in an expensive Brunello Cucinelli tailored suit. Sasuke glanced around the table. At the head was Fugaku, and on the opposite end was Shimura Danzo. Sasuke knew there was a connection between Danzo and the Uchiha but was ignorant to how deep that relationship ran. Danzo was dressed in a white and gold yukata. A golden walking stick leaned up against Danzo's chair. There was a golden cobra head on the handle of the walking stick. Sasuke paused momentarily. Fugaku motioned for Sasuke to join them at the table, and he obliged rather reluctantly.

"Sasuke this is Shimura Danzo my advisor," Fugaku explained.

"Hn." Sasuke exhaled as he bowed his head. He refused to take his eyes off of Danzo. Sasuke wasn't blind or deaf to the headlines.

"There is something that was brought to my attention, and I wanted to verify it with you," Fugaku explained. He paused and shifted his eyes to the door. The door slid open and the waitress came in, she was carrying a bottle of chianti wine, and she began filling up their wine glasses. Fugaku watched as the waitress left and closed the door behind her.

"There's something I want you to hear," Fugaku pulled out his mobile phone and pressed play. Sasuke brought his attention to the mobile phone and furrowed his eyebrows together. There was static sound being emitted, then the sound of footsteps against tiled floor, and then...

' _Sasuke?! What are you doing here?_ ' It was Naruto's voice.

' _What am I doing here?_ " Sasuke repeated as everything flooded to the surface. ' _What are you doing here Naruto?_ '

' _Tell me Naruto! Explain to me...why are you here?_ '

Sasuke covered his mouth with his hand. The recording flooded back the memories. Fear made a home inside his rib cage. The recording continued. There was the sound of the television turning on the news. Reporters were updating on the ongoing case of Uzumaki Naruto allegedly killing his assailant. 

' _If you already know the answer...why bother even asking?_ ' Naruto replied.

The television turned off in the recording, followed by a banging noise as Sasuke threw the remote at Naruto and it struck the window. 

' _How many Naruto?_ '

' _How many wha-_ '

' _How many men paid to fuck you? Five? fifteen? twenty-five? fifty?_ '

' _You gave me fucking syphilis!_ ' Sasuke's voice screamed in the recording

Sasuke was panicking. Large beads of sweat began rolling down his face, his neck, down his back. His vision was blurred and he felt like he was going to puke. Stomach acid burned the back of his throat. The last remnants of lunch, cashew chicken stir-fry, was going to spew out of his mouth. Sasuke covered his mouth tightly. He inhaled and exhaled through his nose at an alarming rate. Barely enough time for the oxygen to circulate into his lungs before he was exhaling again. There was an internal scream coming from the back of his skull. 

"Turn it off!" Sasuke demanded as he tore his hand away from his mouth and stood up. Fugaku didn't. The recording continued. 

' _What did you say?_ ' it was Sakura's voice on the recorder. 

__"PLEASE! FATHER! STOP!" Sasuke begged as he slammed both hands onto the table._ _

' _You can't get syphilis from a blowjob,_ ' Naruto's voice echoed around the room. 

__"Bingo," Fugaku spoke coldly as he paused the recording on his phone. He set his cold eyes onto his youngest son dissecting his reaction."Unless...you want to hear the rest of the record-"_ _

__"NO!"_ _

__Sasuke collapsed down onto his chair. His elbows resting on the table. His hands grabbed both sides of his face. He was shaking violently. So much he was vibrating the entire table. His leg nervously bobbing up and down as if trying to sooth him. But cortisol coursed through his veins and there was no relief in sight._ _

__"To think my own son is a fucking faggot," Fugaku sneered as he glared at Sasuke as if he was nothing more than shit on his shoe. "Shimura here...hypothesized that 'boys will be boys' and sometimes experiment with other boys. I don't believe in that bullshit."_ _

__Fugaku looked at Shimura who held a constant smile throughout the exchange._ _

__Shimura took a sip from the wine glass, "Fugaku, just because men like getting their dicks sucked, doesn't make them gay if it's with another man. When it comes down to it...a blowjob is a blowjob regardless of whose giving it. Doesn't mean you're a faggot. You were telling me Sasuke is dating a rather young and beautiful girl. A respectable girl wouldn't so willingly give a blowjob, now. A man needs a release, which is why we have whores and prostitutes in this world. A warm mouth, a warm pussy, a warm asshole. It's all the same regardless of who it is...it's just a place to put a cock."_ _

__Sasuke tightened his grip on his head. His leg continued to bob up and down. He couldn't believe what he was fucking hearing. He could feel the stomach bile burning his esophagus as he choked it back down. There was a rushing sound between his ears. Like the engine of an airplane. His heart thumped painfully in his chest. His breathing came out labored and intense._ _

__"Sasuke, you are now dating Haruno Sakura, whose mother is the medical examiner. I already researched her academic records. A very respectful girl, from a very respectable family," Fugaku spoke in his cold, emotionless voice._ _

__"She'd be fitting for the son of the Hokage. She'd be perfect for ratings," Shimura continued with that same unnerving smile._ _

__Fugaku nodded and brought the wine glass to his lips._ _

__"Sasuke has high standards Fugaku in both girlfriends and whores," Shimura spoke with a smile, "If I'm going to get a blowjob I prefer to receive them from somebody young and experienced. And Naruto. Well, let's just say he meets both my criteria. Young and experienced...and Zabuza turned the former Hokage's son into a high end slut."_ _

__He didn't want Shimira to say Naruto's name. It felt dirty. Felt wrong. He wanted to vomit. He was going to vomit. If he opened his mouth he was going to vomit. The world was spinning around. The colors mixed all around him._ _

__Shimura licked his lips, "You have a refined taste already, Sasuke. Impressive at only seventeen years old."_ _

__"My faggot son received an goddamn STD!" Fugaku growled between clenched teeth and he slammed his fist down on the table. "If Shimura wasn't so convincing I would have beaten the faggot right out of you, Sasuke! I even made some calls to one of them faggot conversion camps to set you straight!"_ _

__"The mistake wasn't with Sasuke for getting syphilis, Fugaku. The mistake was with Zabuza. He didn't vet his kids. If he had just slipped them antibiotics between the drugs he wouldn't have had this problem. His transgression left a lot of his clients running to the clinic with their dicks dripping. It was only a matter of time before Haku and Naruto caught something. They made us a lot of money."_ _

__Sasuke shoved himself and the chair back from the table. He was going to leave._ _

__"Sasuke! You better listen to me, boy!" Fugaku yelled and Sasuke turned to see his father's deadpan expression. He looked into Fugaku's eyes which swirled with malice and disgust._ _

__"I don't care if you chose fuck other girls, but I catch you messing around with another boy...especially Minato's slut I will send you to that faggot camp so quick! You will continue to date Sakura. You will continue to publicly date her, you continue to show up at events with her by your side. And if by some chance your little discretion make it to the media...one phone call and you'll be at that camp! No son of mine will be a faggot!"_ _

__It took all of Sasuke's strength to nod his head yes. A new fear took hold of Sasuke. Fugaku's reaction was much...much...much worse than he imagined._ _

__Fugaku grabbed his mobile phone and began creating a new email. He attached a video and sent it to Sasuke's email address. Sasuke's mobile phone vibrated. Sasuke looked at Fugaku as he placed his phone back down on the table, and nodded, signaling for Sasuke to check his email. Now. Sasuke hesitated, but brought the email up, and downloaded the attachment. It was a video. Everything inside Sasuke emptied. He was running on autopilot. Functioning only out of the reptilian part of his brain._ _

__He pressed play._ _

__The video quality was clear 1080 interlaced quality. It was the recording of the interrogation of Uzumaki Naruto. The video started with Naruto, his attorney, Obito and Fugaku sitting around the square metal table in the interrogation room. Sasuke quickly paused the video before it went any further, and looked up at Fugaku._ _

__"I want you to watch this video, and I want you to release this video to everyone of your classmates at school."_ _

__"I-I-can't!" Sasuke protested. The words spilled out of his mouth before he could think._ _

__"I never understood your obsession with that Minato's goddamn slut of a son! It's fucking disgusting!" Fugaku yelled angrily._ _

__Fugaku stood up and walked over to Danzo. In one fluid movement he grabbed the golden walking stick, gripping it like a baseball bat and swung at Sasuke's face. The cobra head struck Sasuke on the left side of his head striking his ear and splitting it open. Warm liquid gushed down the side of Sasuke's face as he felt his body jerk with the force of the swing. Sasuke's hand immediately went to his ear where he felt the warmness of the blood against his finger tips. An eruption of pain overcame him._ _

__Fugaku swung the walking stick again striking Sasuke with all his strength against the side of his rib cage, Sasuke was bent forwards, and he swung again, and struck him in the back of the head, before kicking him in the abdomen. Sasuke fell backwards and collided with the ground. His vision went black. Salvia flew from Sasuke's mouth as his organs scrambled around the impact. He was coughing violently and began to dry heave._ _

__"You will do this for me and that is a goddamn order," Fugaku screamed. He grabbed the back of Sasuke's hair and jerked his head up._ _

__"Your continued obsession with him is fucking disgusting! It's unsightly, it's fucking nauseating! Get a grip on yourself! Your relationship with him will ruin the Uchiha name," Fugaku spat in Sasuke's face. The pain in his gut, and in the back of his skull was all Sasuke could think about._ _

__"Fugaku...timing is important. It is good to have information, but how you utilize that information is where true power comes from."_ _

__"Sasuke, do not release that video just yet...you will be notified when that time comes." Shimaru paused and took another drink of the red wine. His eyes trailed Fugaku as he sat back on in his chair at the head of the table. Sasuke continued to writhe in pain on the restaurant floor. Blood dripped from the back of Sasuke's head and the wound on his ear. Head wounds were so dramatic._ _

__"Fugaku, Sasuke's continued relationship with Naruto may prove to our advantage in the future. I mean it was Sasuke who obtained those documents which allowed us to take care of Anko, which prevented me from prosecution and prison. By the way, I do thank you Sasuke for all your hard work. I wouldn't be too theatrical about ending things...," Shimura explained his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard._ _

Sasuke remembered the night in question. They had won the championship game and Naruto invited Sasuke to sleep over. It was the night Naruto kissed Sasuke for the first time. He had always known he had cared about Naruto since they became friends when they were five. It solidified when Naruto's absence from school at ten years old caused an emptiness to form in his chest, and that emptiness was only filled when Sasuke went to Naruto's house. At the house party, in the closet, when Sasuke kissed him it felt different from the kiss he quietly stole when they were ten. Sasuke felt something more than friendship...and then after the championship game in Naruto's room when Naruto kissed him...he knew it. He knew he liked Naruto more than a friend. It was painful, and he was too frightened of his own feelings. He denied them. 

__"When was Itachi's last report?" Shimura asked._ _

__"I ordered Itachi to assassinate Uchiha Shisui three weeks ago. His whereabouts are currently unknown. It would appear Shisui's influence on Itachi was stronger than I anticipated," Fugaku answered. He brought the wine glass to him mouth, swallowed._ _

__"I would be wary of Itachi, Fugaku. My suggestion for you is not to go anywhere without protection. I'll have members of my organization, Root, protect you from the shadows. Shisui's loyalty and allegiance to Minato is unnerving. There is a possibility he is planning your assassination, but the likelihood of that is low. Minato knows if anything happens to you...then we will simply kill Uzumaki Naruto."_ _

__"...and that is precisely the reason why I ordered Itachi to remove Shisui from the picture. Itachi is still my son, and his loyalties lie with the Uchiha. Both my sons are loyal to the Uchiha, and will do whatever is necessary to keep the Uchiha in power...and Minato is trying to align himself with the Suna...he wouldn't act so reckless knowing the danger he would out his son in."_ _

____

*****

Sasuke returned to campus late. There were stitches on the back of his head, and his left ear was bandaged. His hearing distorted. Everything was muffled and distant. He was able to return to his dormitory without being noticed. He didn't watch the recording of the interrogation. Instead the memory of visiting Naruto in the hospital became so vivid it was as if he was re-experiencing it.

Sasuke had climbed on top of Naruto, and pinned him down. His body felt warm and he was positioned between his legs. Naruto's left wrist handcuffed to the gurney, his right arm bandaged and in a sling. Sasuke had attempted to disrobe Naruto. He had peeled the hospital gown to reveal the smooth muscles of his chest. He licked his palm and brought it to Naruto's cock before forcefully kissing him. Naruto moaned and gasped against his mouth. His entire body shuddered. The toes on both feet curled and then released. Sasuke could feel the thick warm cum explode from his penis and coat his hand. Sasuke let go of his limp cock and lifted his hand. He grabbed hold of Naruto’s hospital gown and wiped the semen off. 

The realization of what he did forced Sasuke to bend over the trashcan next to his desk and vomit. Thick, steaming, vomit covered the bottom of the trash can. It burned his nose, and watered his eyes. He hurt. Everything hurt. 

He leaned back in his desk chair and stared up at the ceiling. He felt like he was dry drowning. Invisible water was filling his lungs making it difficult to breathe. Everything swirled around in his head. 

Sasuke thought to last night. In the lobby of Cypress Hall. Sasuke entered the elevator and looked at Naruto who was leaning up against the wall. He was refusing to step into the elevator him with. No, no, no that wasn't right. Naruto didn't refuse. He was giving Sasuke space. He was doing exactly what Sasuke wanted...so why was Sasuke so upset that Naruto didn't get on the elevator with him?

' _I'm sorry Sasuke,_ ' Naruto voice echoed, ' _For hurting you...and for everything._ '

He hurt. Everything hurt. Fugaku was correct. He was obsessed with Naruto. He was obsessed and it was fucking disgusting...and it was unsightly...and nauseating...and would ultimately ruin the Uchiha name. But he didn't think he could stay away from Naruto...not when he was back in school...not when he was back on campus. Fugaku's threats echoed in his skull. Sasuke didn't know how long he was able to stay away from Naruto...but he felt it weakening. And like London bridge...it would come falling down. 


	38. Private Lessons

# Private Lessons

 

Naruto held the cup in one hand and his cock in the other. Aiming so that when he urinated it went into the cup and not the urinal. Nothing came out. Naruto tried to push the urine out. Not even a trickle. Although the pressure kept building up in his bladder with how badly he had to urinate. It became painful. Naruto looked over his shoulder at the older man leaning up against the stall. 

Might Guy had jet black hair in a bowl cut, and thick black bushy eyebrows which overpowered his slanted eyes. He was dressed in a skintight forest green tracksuit, and bright orange sneakers. Guy continued to observe Naruto his eyes piercing through. It caused Naruto to jump.

"Hey! Do you have to stand so close to me when I do this?" Naruto yelled as his face turned an even darker shade of mortification.

"Rules are rules! I have to be here when you give a drug screen. I have absolute faith you can do it!" His probation officer spoke. He flashed a bright toothpaste commercial smile, and gave Naruto the thumbs up. 

"DON'T GIVE ME THE THUMBS UP WHEN I HAVE MY COCK IN MY HAND!" 

Naruto lectured as his body tensed up once more. The urine he felt slide down the urethra went back up into his bladder. He turned back to the task at hand, mumbling under his breath that Might Guy was the weirdest person he'd ever met. He acted more like a child than an adult. The first time he met his probation officer Might Guy slapped him on the back and made him do one hundred jumping jacks. When Naruto began Might joined him jovially announcing he could finish in half the time it took Naruto. He did. 

"Embrace your inner youth! Embrace it now...because when you get older you could sneeze and accidentally pee a little," Guy laughed loudly. He held up both hands as if indicating it happened to the best of them.

"Stop telling me weird stories!" Naruto growled as he tried forcing the urine out again...and...nothing.

Naruto had forced four cups of coffee down prior to his weekly probation appointment. It was part of his probation stipulations. Every Saturday promptly at 11:00AM he had to check in with Might Guy. Every week. Until he turned 18. At each appointment Naruto had to produce a urine drug screen. Another part of his probation stipulations. Remaining drug free. 

Naruto had refrained from drug abuse for the past two months. Not even adderall was passed between his lips. It didn't get easier...it was more like...it wasn't easily obtainable, and with his strict probation stipulations it just...wasn't worth it. Naruto detoxed in Konoha Psychiatric Hospital. When he returned from his two week stint in the real world. During those two weeks he lost himself and he went on a bender. It was the worse detox he ever experienced when he found and escorted back. 

The inexorable sobriety of Naruto came with Minato stepping down as Hokage. Naruto threatened Minato. He had to. Because Fugaku threatened Naruto. The Uchiha were in possession of that video, and Naruto was not going to allow the video to be exposed to the public. Ever.

*****

"Congratulations! Another clean urine screen!"

Guy spoke with enthusiasm. He pumped a fist into the air causing Naruto to roll his eyes. Guy grabbed a forest green clipboard from his desk and flipped a few pages to a questionnaire. Naruto exhaled deeply. He knew the drill. The rapid fire questions began. 

"Are you following the curfew?"

"Yes."

"Are you attending all your classes?"

"Yes."

"Are you staying out of trouble?"

"Yes."

"Are you dating anybody?"

"No."

"Are you having sex?"

"No!"

"When I say sex I mean oral, anal, and vaginal."

"NO!"

"Have you been in contact with Haku?"

"No…"

"I will remind you...if you are in contact with Haku it will violate your probation."

"I know!"

"How are you getting along with your classmates?"

"Fine…"

"Are you still taking your mental health medications?"

"Yes."

"Are you still seeing Kurenai for mental health counseling?"

"Yes."

Guy finished making notes on the questionnaire and then lowered the clipboard. He looked at Naruto. The blonde remained standing, arms crossed, and eyes looked out the window. He was pouting. He was still only seventeen. He was still just a kid. Konoha was so congested all the time. The population was growing rapidly and the city wasn't able to keep up. It was a problem that Fugaku inherited as interim Hokage. They were in the middle of a recession. 

Guy wondered how Fugaku was going to handle the rising cost of living, and the rising unemployment rate, and the rising crime rates. The citizens of Konoha were experiencing hunger and frustration at an alarming rate and with no relief in sight Guy wondered how long before desperation took hold. The citizens of Konoha were feeling more like livestock being kept in overcrowded cages than humans living in a city. It was only a matter of time before mass hysteria took over. Naruto felt it and Guy knew that Naruto felt it. 

Guy wanted to ask about Minato...wanted to ask how Naruto was feeling about Minato...and Fugaku. But he didn't. The timing wasn't right.

"Naruto...I've spoken to Kakashi. He told me you turned in your resignation from the soccer team." 

Naruto continued staring out the window ignoring Guy.

"Why?"

Naruto shrugged and lied, "I guess I just...lost interest."

The truth was Naruto had hurt Sasuke beyond repair and so the only thing Naruto could do was to leave Sasuke alone. There were irrevocable differences and a simple 'I'm sorry' would not suffice. Their friendship disintegrated. Naruto knew that. But not saying 'I'm sorry' felt cruel and unrepentant, and every time he was around Sasuke he felt like he had to continue to say it. To make amends. A tiny piece of hope within Naruto wishfully thought it would make a difference. It hadn't. Sasuke was the reason why Naruto turned in his resignation. 

"I really want you to reconsider. You're on probation until you're 18...but it's more of a rehabilitation. The goal is to live life as a typical high school kid. You're all set. I'll see you again next Saturday. Go forth! Go embrace your youth and make unforgettable memories that will last a lifetime!"

He turned to stare at Might Guy and an uncertain smile spread his lips. It was cringe worthy, but the words seemed to sink in. Naruto had started to feel the resemblance of his former self returning. He began to feel like a typical high school kid. Something he didn't experience last school year. The experience was robbed from him. The nightmares were becoming fewer and far in between, and the urge to masturbate lessened. He found himself less needy and codependent. He was able to be by himself without going into a full blown panic attack. Naruto wouldn't say it out loud...but being on probation was one of the best things that had happened to him.

*****

It was the end of November and Naruto continued to minimize his presence in Sasuke's life.

He took painful precautions to ensure they did not cross paths outside of the two classes they shared. Naruto stopped going to the soccer field. Purposely avoided the mess hall at peak times and went at off hours. He only went to the library in the mornings because he knew Sasuke went in the afternoons and at nighttime. He even went as far as to take the stairs to and from the seventh floor of Cypress Hall instead of the elevator. He did all of that and then...

Things changed during Naruto's Art History class. He was absentmindedly doodling ninjas throwing shurikens in his notebook when Hinata poked him in the arm. She whispered his name. Naruto glanced at Hinata just as the professor shouted his name. 

"Uzumaki!"

"Huh?" Naruto asked. He looked up at the professor who was leaning over their shared table. Her hands on her hip, and she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Are you paying attention?"

"Ah...sorry-sorry!" Naruto broke out into a smile. He clapped his hands together and bowed his head. It caused a few classmates to snicker. 

"I've decided to reassign your partners for the next project. Your new partner is Uchiha Sasuke."

"I refuse!" Naruto blurted out, and shook his head no.

"Excuse me? Are you being insubordinate?" The professor blinked and stood back aghast. 

"No-no! It's uh...complicated...how about uh...another partner option?" 

Naruto attempted to bargain and he flashed his best charismatic smile. The class erupted out into incoherent whispering.

"Uzumaki Naruto, are you or are you not currently on probation?" The professor asked. Naruto hated when people asked questions they already knew the answer too. He seized up. The snickering continued. The whispering continued. The room turned dark and cold as he felt all eyes on him. 

"I am."

Naruto tossed his head to the side and nervously combed a hand through his hair. He felt his face inflame and flush. He suddenly wanted to melt into the floor and vanish.

"Would you want me to report this to-"

"No! Alright! Alright! I take it back! I accept your terms!" Naruto interrupted as he held out both hands in front of him. Yielding. Only she didn't leave. The professor continued staring hard at Naruto as if expecting something else. He looked back up. 

"...uh...what can I do for you...?" Naruto asked clearly not understanding. He was becoming more nervous at being the center of undesired attention.

"Pack up your belongings. You will be sitting with Sasuke." She pointed her finger to the back of the room.

Oh.

A shadow loomed over him and Naruto looked to see a secondary character smiling and waving nervously. It was the character who was originally partnered with Sasuke. There was a cruel god in this world. Naruto looked apprehensively at Hinata. He began to gather up his textbook and notebook into his arms. Hinata gave Naruto an encouraging smile. Naruto grabbed his school bag and pivoted away just as the secondary character slid into Naruto's empty seat. Naruto's eyes focused on the floor as he maneuvered through the wooden circular desks. All around him students continued to whisper and gossip and sneer.

All the precautions Naruto had taken went out the goddamn window.

Naruto lifted his eyes when he reached his newly assigned seat to see Sasuke. His head propped up by his hand and carried an expression that seemed to accuse Naruto as the reason why this was happening. An expression that clearly stated 'this is all your fault!' Naruto shrugged and flashed a nervous smile. Trying to convey he had nothing to do with this and was against it. He dragged the barstool as far away from Sasuke as he could get away with, before sitting down and plopping his school supplies on the desk.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto's notebook and at the doodlings of ninjas. He clicked his tongue, "Tch." 'So childish' his expression seemed to convey. Naruto blinked. He glanced at Sasuke and saw him staring at the doodles. Clearly looking down at him. Naruto scowled, his face beating red, and slammed his notebook closed. Sasuke covered the smile that was forming on his lips with his hand and turned away. 

The professor explained the new group project. The pairs were to go to the Konoha Art Museum and pick a section where they would research several paintings, the artists, and analyze these paintings using the terminology learned so far. One painting needing to be the sin assigned to them from the first group project. Naruto made a mental note of needing to find a painting representing wrath and a painting representing lust. The project was due the class before Christmas and New Years break.

After class ended Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke. Before Naruto could say anything Sasuke stood up and slammed his hand down on the table. He leaned close to him. So close Naruto could feel Sasuke's breath on his face. Naruto's breathing caught in his chest.

Sasuke spoke in a low and serious voice, "I'm not working on this project with you...so let me make myself clear. You do half the assignment and I'll do the other half, and when you are done send me your part in an email and I will put it together. Do I make myself clear?"

Naruto flashed a charismatic smile and saluted, "Sounds good to me!"

Sasuke looked shocked at Naruto's response. He stared at Naruto for a few more seconds. The smile was warm. His too blue eyes clear and bright. It was Naruto...the old Naruto smiling up at Sasuke. NO! He recovered. He grabbed his school bag and left the classroom.

Naruto exhaled loudly. The mask fell from his face. He dropped his head down to the wooden table. Deflated.

*****

Naruto finished his afternoon classes. He was strolling down the asphalt path that lead to the dormitories. Headphones were over his ears and rock music was blasting into his eardrum. It was something Kurenai suggested as a coping mechanism. Listening to music and blocking out the words that were snickered and hurled his way between classes. He was not liked. Naruto could feel it. There was a hatred forming from the students towards Naruto. He tried not to focus on those things and instead focused on the music. It vibrated every molecule inside him. He walked to the beat of the drums.

He was holding his school bag behind his head. His eyes looked at the skeleton tree branches marked on either side of the path. The leaves had fallen and rotted at the base of the trees. There was a smell of decay and dirt in the air. The wind picked up and Naruto could smell blood.

Naruto turned his attention between the two school academic buildings. There was a familiar flash of auburn hair. It was the color of an out of control forest fire. Gaara was standing with his fists clenched at his side. Blood was rolling down Gaara's mouth. Three boys of varying heights and weights surrounded him. One of the boys shoved Gaara backwards. Gaara held his ground and barely stumbled. 

The expression Gaara had was concerning. It was devoid of any humanity. The first time Naruto was introduced to Gaara was in the cafeteria of the psychiatric hospital. Gaara had tackled Naruto to the floor and held a plastic knife against his carotid artery. It was Naruto's fault. He had provoked the younger boy. He did it before he even knew what had happened to him. Naruto purposely walked up and wrapped his arms around Gaara's neck. He pulled the boy close and licked his ear. Just like what Shisui had done to Naruto. He wanted to establish dominance. But mostly he wanted to piss off Kurenai. And the next thing Naruto knew he was on his back. Gaara pinned him down, and held a plastic knife to his jugular. The expression was the same. 

Gaara and Naruto were similar in almost every aspect of their lives. The strongest connection being they had both murdered somebody. They both played judge, jury, and executioner...and Naruto always thought Gaara would do it again if provoked.

"Yo!" 

Naruto called out. He turned down the alleyway between the two academic buildings. He pulled the headphones from his ears until they hung around his neck. He walked closer his attention turning to the three boys who surrounded Gaara.

"What seems to be goin' on here, boys?"

"Get the fuck outta here, Naruto!" One of the boys, with a large square nose, growled.

"This doesn't concern you faggot!" The fat boy growled. He stepped in front of Naruto preventing him from walking any further.

"Three boys against one? Seems just like the exact kinda gang-bang I want to be apart of," Naruto flashed a smirk.

"You're fucking sick!" The fat boy snarled. But, he looked uncomfortable with Naruto's direct response. Naruto didn't flinch and continued to stare the three of them down. They looked mismatched, uncoordinated, and thrived on testosterone and red meat.

"I may just be sick...it might even be contagious..." Naruto taunted.

He glanced at Gaara who seemed to be in a trance. It looked like Gaara was caught in a flashback...he was most definitely caught in a nightmare, and these boys were taking advantage of Gaara in this state. The fat boy rounded on Naruto, grabbed hold of Naruto's button-up shirt and navy cardigan, and yanked him closer. The fat boy was too uncomfortable and the only way to feel normal was to beat the shit out of somebody...and Naruto was in front of him. 

"Do you have a fucking death wish?"

"Boys...boys...let's just talk this out...or y'know, you can just practice giving each other blowjobs in the boys locker room like real men," Naruto spoke with a smirk. The fat boy was startled and his grip loosened on Naruto and his bottom lip quivered. 

"Ya know...I can give you some private lessons," Naruto spoke as he licked his lips.

The fat boy punched Naruto across the face, hitting his lip, and busting it open, before releasing him. Naruto knew who caused Gaara's own busted lip. Naruto's body jerked with the impact. Naruto let go of his school bag. Blood flew from the open wound. Naruto began laughing. He regained his balance. Naruto wiped the blood that dripped from his mouth with the back of his hand. He he felt unhinged. 

"Let this be known. You threw the first punch," Naruto commented with a high pitched laugh.

Naruto had been enrolled in taijutsu from the time he was four up until he was thirteen. Quitting only when he decided to join the soccer team. Dealing with other children was less scary than dealing with adults. Especially when guns or knives weren't involved. Naruto had already stared death down twice and neither time did he join death. His fear threshold was exponentially high. A school yard scuffle was nothing. There was no nervousness or fear on Naruto's end. 

Chaos broke out.

The fat boy swung again at Naruto. Only Naruto was quicker. He quickly bent down, and side stepped, easily dodging. Naruto swung his foot around so that he kicked at the fat boy's face. His foot connected beautifully with his teeth. Naruto maneuvered to the left and punched him in the face, grabbed hold of his shoulders and kneed him in the balls, before kicking him in the stomach. The fat boy lost his balance, and fell backwards. 

The second boy who called Naruto by name had swung at Naruto. He did not recognize this boy. But it wasn't uncommon for somebody to recognize Naruto. He was once the Hokage's kid. Everything happened in one fluid motion as if some force was controlling Naruto's body and actions. Like a puppet on strings. Naruto found himself straddling the boy. The wires of his headphones wrapped tightly around the boy's neck. Not once. Not twice. But three times around his neck. Naruto was pulling with all his strength. Choking him. The boy was gagging, choking, and gasping for air. It was a familiar sound. 

He felt unhinged. Felt feral. Felt raw.

In that moment Naruto felt powerful. He watched the boy's face turn a shade of red and finally to a beautiful shade of blue. He was oxygen deprived. He felt...turned on. He felt horny. He felt his cock engorge with blood. He was in absolute fucking control and nobody was going to stop him...

"NARUTO! STOP IT!" 

A voice screamed. It snapped Naruto from the spell. His grip loosened at first, and then he dropped his hands at his side altogether. Rolling his eyes up he saw Sakura standing above him. Both her hands were on his shoulders, and she was shaking him violently. Naruto blinked. She was still there. 

"What are you doing?" Sakura demanded as she pulled her hands back.

Naruto dropped his eyes to look at the boy straddled beneath him. The boy was coughing, and gagging. His hands pulling the wire that was wrapped around his neck. Naruto looked back up. He noticed Sasuke standing a few feet behind Sakura. He was watching Naruto with mild curiosity. Naruto looked Sasuke up and down before running a hand through his blonde hair.

Naruto stood up and backed away from the boy. His eyes shifted to the fat boy one who was on all fours and wheezing, and then shifted his attention to Gaara who had incapacitated the third boy. Gaara was panting, blood still rolled down from his busted lip. He had broken the spell of the nightmare and was back to reality. Naruto was relieved. 

"...they swung first," Naruto finally answered. He caught Gaara's attention. 

"Do you want to get suspended? Get out of here before the professors come!" Sakura lectured and shoved Naruto away. 

Naruto stumbled backwards. He was unfazed. He bent down and gathered his headphones and collected his schoolbag.

Naruto placed his headphones around his neck, and threw his schoolbag over his head. Gaara walked up to Naruto he was still panting. Sweat was beading down his pale face and he looked at Naruto with his green eyes. Naruto wrapped an arm around Gaara's neck and pulled the boy close. They began making their way down the asphalt path. Naruto wasn't in a hurry. He was savoring every second. He was still high. His cock still engorged. 

Naruto walked closer and closer to where Sasuke was standing. Rooted in place. They stared at each other as Naruto passed. Everything moved in slow motion. Sasuke's eyes dropped to Naruto's bulging crotch then back to Naruto's eyes. Naruto tilted his head to the side, raised his eyebrows, and smirked.

Naruto left Sasuke speechless.


	39. My Name is Human

# My Name is Human

 

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked. His arms folded over his chest and he loomed over Naruto who was sitting on a bench. They were in the Romanticism section of the Konoha Art Museum. 

"S'ske?" Naruto asked. Sasuke stepped between him and the painting he was making notes on. Naruto looked down at his lap. He had a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other and his eyebrows furrowed. What was he doing? He was doing his half of the art assignment! 

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke repeated. This time filled with more annoyance and hostility.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto had spent the better part of the hour mesmerized by the painting in front of him. _The Death of Sardanapalus_ by Delacroix. The scene depicted pure sexualized chaos in the red bedroom. The women were all in the throes of death, and in various states of undress. They were all going to die, and the painting captured the moment right before the ensuing bloodshed. Death awaited every single of them. The faces of the women morphed into the faces of Kazamatsuri Moegi, of Ise Udon...and of Sarutobi Konohamaru. Naruto envisioned them all with their throats gashed and blood spurting out the wounds and painting the room red.

"Did I stutter? Have you become hard of hearing? I asked you a simple question."

"I heard you...I'm doing my part of the project...what else does it look like I'm doing?" Naruto answered plainly and rolled his eyes at the ridiculous question. He was being grounded back into reality. The sick memories pulling back into the dark recesses of his mind. 

"Leave...I don't want you here. Come back tomorrow," Sasuke demanded. Naruto's face burned red as he stared up at Sasuke's snow white features. The look in Sasuke's eyes was apparent. Disgust. Abhorrence. Vexation. All aimed at Naruto. He felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of his head and he shook his head.

"No! You leave! I was here first!" Naruto argued. He stood up to be on even footing with Sasuke and stared him down.

"I told you I'm not doing this project with you," Sasuke exhaled.

"Okay! I understood the first time you told me! But I'm not leaving, I was here first!" Naruto emphasized.

"Then pick another room. I want _this_ room."

"FINE!" Naruto shouted raising both arms over his head. He didn't want to stare at that painting any longer. It filled him with dread and panic and fear.

Naruto bent down, grabbed his messenger bag, and swung it over his shoulder. He paused momentarily to look up at the painting. The naked woman in the bottom right was being held by her left bicep as the man who was positioned directly behind her held the blade of a knife, vertical, to the flesh of her neck. On the precipice of slitting her throat. A shudder went down his spine. The woman morphed and Naruto saw himself. Biwa positioned behind him and dragged the serrated knife across his throat. His breathing caught in his throat, he paled, and a shudder went through his body.

Sasuke made sure Naruto left the room before turning his attention to the painting he was staring at. His eyes fell to the woman who had a knife held to her throat. Sasuke thought of the serrated scar across Naruto's throat, and the thin whisker-like scars on his cheeks. He felt guilt wash over him and he sat down in the same spot Naruto was sitting at. The spot was still warm. Sasuke's palms went to the wood and he pressed them against what was left of the warmness of Naruto's presence. The emptiness inside Sasuke was growing and every time he ran into Naruto outside of the classroom it significantly increased. 

*****

An hour and a half passed and Sasuke was ready to leave the museum when Naruto appeared. He was walking towards him with spiral notebook in hand. Naruto was ripping out a handful of pages from the notebook and he held them out to Sasuke.

"What is this?" Sasuke asked quirking an eyebrow.

"My half of the assignment."

"No...type it up and email it to me. This isn't your half of the assignment it's 1/4 of your assignment!"

"Just take it!"

"No!"

"Come on! You're faster at typing than I am...just take my notes!" 

Naruto pressed the sheets of paper to Sasuke's chest, and he unwillingly grabbed hold of the papers. He looked at the chicken scratch that was Naruto's handwriting and rolled his eyes. What did Naruto expect him to do with this ineligible hieroglyphics? Sasuke handed the papers back to Naruto and gave him a chide expression.

"I can't read this. Type it up and send it to me properly."

"Sasuke! You know I hate typing...you're so much better at it than I am, and you'll be so much faster!"

"That doesn't even make sense. Besides you would have been just fine at typing if you actually paid attention in class and didn't mess around with Kiba!" Sasuke scolded. He continued to press the papers back into Naruto's hands, but the blonde jumped away.

They were reliving a memory of them back in elementary school. When they were learning how to use the computer specifically how to type on the keyboard without looking. It was a memory game and Naruto had poor memory and an even poorer attention span. Naruto was positioned between Sasuke, who took the classes very seriously and worked diligently on his typing assignments, and Kiba who played around and whispered with Naruto when the teacher wasn't looking. 

"How was I supposed to know where the letters were when they covered the keyboard up! Maybe if you didn't help me with all my assignments I would have had to learn on my own!" Naruto defended holding his hands behind his head. 

"You've got to be kidding me. Are you seriously blaming me right now for your inability to type on the keyboard like a goddamn adult?"

Naruto flashed his infamous smile. The one that was so goddamn bright and warm as if the sun itself was rising behind it. Sasuke paused being captivated by it.

"Come on...please S'ske! You want a good grade riiight? Me, I'm fine with a C..."

"I-I can't read this! Take them back!" Sasuke recovered and he held the sheets of paper out.

Naruto looked at the watch on his hands and held his hands up, "Sorry Sasuke...I have to go...but I can meet up with you later to help you decipher the notes! Bye-Bye!"

Sasuke was left standing there holding the sheets of paper. Speechless. Naruto was gone.

Wait...what!?

Sasuke didn't know what he was doing, but his body was moving after Naruto. He exited the museum, moved down the cement stairs, and only paused when he was back on the street. The conversation between them was easy and simple. Effortless. Everything came naturally. As if no time had passed between them. In that moment if felt like the emptiness inside Sasuke was being gradually being refilled. He turned from side to side and caught sight of the familiar blonde.

"Wait!" Sasuke called out but Naruto was too far ahead of him. It was late afternoon on Saturday and the streets were crowded with pedestrians. Sasuke's intentions were to catch up to Naruto and give him back the sheets of paper and demand he fully do his half of the assignment. The same thing happened in elementary school. Naruto would beg Sasuke to help him with his assignments and he ended up caving and completing them for him...and why did it fall back to the same routine? Sasuke didn't want to be friends with Naruto. He wouldn't. He refused. He didn't even want to work on the assignment with him.

Sasuke walked in the general direction of Naruto. The streets were congested and crowded. He stopped when he saw the blonde disappear into the front doors of the Twin Leaves Hotel. Sasuke's mind emptied. He followed Naruto into the hotel lobby. The blonde had pulled out his cell phone and appeared to be looking at a text message. Naruto didn't head towards the elevator which lead to the hotel rooms instead moved his body towards the restaurant on the first floor. Sasuke's body was moving automatically. His breathing becoming erratic, his hands shaking, as he continued trailing after Naruto.

The blonde collapsed into a chair at one of the tables in the back of the restaurant where it was emptied of customers. Sasuke watched Naruto and studied his expressions. He looked uncomfortable, he looked irritated, and he kept looking at the watch secured around his left wrist. Waiting. But for who? Sasuke found himself being carried closer and closer towards the blonde. He wanted to punch him in his goddamn teeth.

"Let's hurry up and do this...I need to get back to campus. I was only given until 4 to be out," Naruto growled at the shadow looming over him. Blue eyes filled with animosity trailed up...only it was Sasuke who greeted him.

"Sasuke?!" Naruto gasped, and looked anxiously around the restaurant.

Sasuke was glaring down. Hands clenched into fists. He was still holding onto the papers Naruto had thrust upon him. Only the papers were crumpled in his hands...only he was using his entire strength not to punch Naruto. The words couldn't form properly and before Sasuke could speak he was interrupted.

"What are you doing here? Are you following me? This...isn't what it looks like!" Naruto spoke hesitantly and leaped to his feet.

"...and what does it look like?" Sasuke asked.

"I-I…Fuck. You shouldn't be here Sasuke!" Naruto continued and he looked at his watch again.

"No, Naruto... _you_ shouldn't be here! So why are you here! What exactly are you pulling walking into this hotel? Meeting someone whose going to pay you to-"

Naruto's phone vibrated and Sasuke stopped talking. Naruto pulled it from his pocket and saw an unknown number calling him. Naruto glanced around the restaurant, and realized who he was supposed to meet had already noticed Sasuke. The meeting wasn't going to happen. It was too risky. Naruto rejected the call and stuffed the phone back into his pocket. Sasuke witnessed all of this and didn't take his eyes from Naruto. The blonde began to relax, and it only angered Sasuke more.

"Listen, I'll explain everything to you...okay? I promise. I just have to report back to Iruka by 4:00PM. Let's go."

*****

Sasuke was sitting next to Naruto on the bus headed back to campus. They sat in silence. Naruto sat by the window eyes staring out at the passing scenery. Sasuke, sat in the aisle seat and stared straight a head of him. He was still holding the crumpled papers of Naruto's chicken scratch writing in his hand. Sasuke waited in silence for Naruto's explanation. It did not come and Sasuke cleared his throat.

"How are things going for you Sasuke?" Naruto asked. He gave Sasuke a sideways glance. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto.

"Fine. Why were you in the Twin Leaves hotel?"

"I..." 

Naruto looked around the bus and noticed the other students on the bus. They were clustered in groups and whispering with one another. Naruto felt several eyes flicker back to stare at Naruto and Sasuke as they sat together. It was too risky to tell Sasuke on the bus. There were too many ears, and Naruto was doing his damn hardest to not cause another scandal. 

"I'll tell you later...when we're alone," Naruto sighed as he sat back in his seat. He tightened his grip on his school bag that rested in his lap. Naruto had pulled the hood of his jacket over his head. There was reddish-tinted fur trim around the edges of the hood that looked like the fox's fur. It covered his face.

"You're the Hokage's son..." Naruto commented.

"Yeah and your point?" Sasuke snapped before Naruto could finish his thought. Naruto grew silent.

Naruto flashed back to being inside the psychiatric hospital. Naruto was seated in a plastic bucket seat and across from him was Uchiha Fugaku. He was dressed in a suit, tie, and his Smith and Wesson strapped to his waist. Naruto was dressed in summer clothes and sandals. Fugaku smelled of the outside, whereas, Naruto smelled of the hospital. The look Fugaku had while Naruto watched the video of himself, and Biwa Juzo, from the Twin Leaves hotel burned on the inside of Naruto's eyelids. It was the look of annihilation...and it was aimed at Naruto...and Sasuke was Fugaku's son.

Naruto asked as the bus neared the library, "Has..uh...Fugaku told you anything...about me?"

The only ones who were aware of the video were those apart of the investigation team. The ones in possession of the video were the Uchiha. Naruto was holding his breath. The bus pulled up to the library and students began filtering off. "What are you talking about?"

"I guess...nothing..." Naruto spoke. He tried to look at Sasuke's expression but the other boy was already standing up and moving towards the exit of the bus. He exhaled and exited the bus.

*****

Naruto and Sasuke walked side by side in painful, awkward, silence down the asphalt path that led to Cypress Hall. Naruto's hands were stuffed in his coat pocket, hood covered his head, and his eyes down caste. Naruto looked to his right and noticed that Sasuke was still holding onto the crumpled sheets of notebook paper in his left hand. Naruto looked at his chicken scratch writing on the papers and smiled. He reached out his hand to retrieve the papers, and just as he was about to touch the papers Sasuke swiftly retracted his hand.

Oh.

"Hm?" Naruto asked. He looked at Sasuke who appeared to be in shock over his own actions. Sasuke didn't want to give Naruto his papers back. He was using them as collateral. He was going to have Naruto explain everything to Sasuke.

"Naruto!" Iruka spoke as the two boys entered Cypress Hall. Both sets of eyes went to Iruka.

"Right on time...and with Sasuke?" Iruka looked at Sasuke who was besides Naruto. Iruka was standing in the front entrance. He was obviously waiting for Naruto to check in. There was a genuineness about Iruka almost paternal and it caused Naruto to smile. Iruka wasn't a bad adult.

"Ah...yeah...he's my partner for my art history project I met him at the museum," Naruto spoke sheepishly. He pulled the hood back causing his messy, blonde, hair to go in all directions. Iruka beamed at Sasuke and Naruto.

"Good! That's good!

"Well...we have to go now...bye..." Naruto spoke as he nudged Sasuke to move. Naruto wanted to leave before Iruka asked any additional questions such as if Naruto went anywhere else besides probation, and the art museum. He wanted to leave before he had to lie, or before Sasuke told the truth.

Sasuke called the elevator and the two stood in silence. There was a stillness between them. Sasuke glanced at Naruto who was standing uncomfortably besides him his blue eyes watching the numbers above the elevator doors decrease as the elevator descended. The elevator beeped and the doors opened. Sasuke stepped in and turned around to stare at Naruto. The blonde hesitated.

"Are you coming? You said you were going to explain everything to me," Sasuke asked and held his arm in front of the elevator door to prevent them from closing.

"Y-yeah!" Naruto perked up and stepped into the elevator.

*****

Sasuke didn't want to be Naruto's friend anymore.

It was a mantra he repeated in the back of his head to the beat of the bass. He kept telling himself the reason why he was tolerating Naruto's presence, and the reason why Naruto was in his room, sitting on his bed, was because they were partners and needed to complete their art history assignment. They had to complete their assignment and Sasuke wanted Naruto to explain why he was at the Twin Leaves Hotel. It most definitely wasn't because Sasuke missed Naruto, and it most definitely wasn't because Sasuke felt significantly better whenever Naruto was around.

Naruto read out loud his own handwriting on the crumpled sheets of paper while Sasuke sat at his desk typing on his Macbook Pro.

"This room is smaller than my single-dorm room was..." Naruto commented. He looked around the meticulously organized room. Everything was minimal, grey, and barely looked like anybody lived there. It felt like it was a room display out of a ikea. 

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sasuke asked as he stopped typing and looked up.

"Just saying they gave you a really tiny single dorm for being the Hokage's son," Naruto spoke with a smirk. Sasuke was given the option of moving dormitories. There were available dormitories in Sycamore Hall. Sasuke turned around and stared at Naruto. He decided to stay in Cypress Hall.

"The room I have now...was even bigger than the room you and I shared together. I'm on the seventh floor."

"Why were you at the Twin Leaves Hotel?" Sasuke asked. He wasn't going to allow Naruto to fill the silence with small-talk. He turned sideways in his seat to get a better look at Naruto. The blonde was sitting on Sasuke's bed his back pressed up against the wall.

"I was meeting...somebody..." Naruto answered shifting his eyes away from Sasuke. 

"Obviously!" Sasuke snapped and moved to stand in front of Naruto.

"Sasuke...When was the last time you saw your brother?"

"Itachi? Why are you bringing him up?"

"I was going to meet Itachi..." Naruto answered.

Itachi had been missing for several weeks, his whereabouts unknown. Sasuke tried to remember the last time he saw his elusive older brother. They had never had a close relationship. The distance between them was the size of the Grand Canyon. His parents' attention was always focused around Itachi. Always. Especially their father. The only important son was Itachi. The only time Sasuke felt happiness was when Itachi became an Anbu member for Minato. Sasuke witnessed his father's rage, and disgust, and disappointment. It didn't last long...Itachi betrayed Minato and returned to the Uchiha police force.

"You're lying," Sasuke retorted. Naruto shrugged.

"What did he want to talk about?" Sasuke asked recalling the conversation between Fugaku and Danzo in The York restaurant. Itachi was ordered to assassinate Uchiha Shisui. The only connections Naruto and Itachi shared were...Sasuke...and...

"Shisui." 

"Why did you agree to meet with him?"

"I...wanted to ask him something..." Naruto answered. He wanted to ask about the video. The video that was in Fugaku's possession.

"You've asked about Itachi before...what exactly is your relationship with him?" Sasuke asked. He sat besides Naruto on the bed. He kicked his shoes off, and pressing his back up against the wall.

"In the beginning...he sold me Callisto. He then became a member of the Anbu, and he was Shisui's partner. That's the extent of it, well, until he reached out and asked me to meet him."

"Did Itachi know about you...?" Sasuke was alluding to Naruto prostituting at the Twin Leaves Hotel.

"Yes."

"Did you...do anything with him?" Sasuke asked his face felt hot and sticky. His stomach churned at the possibility. Sasuke had believed everything Naruto said. He believed everything as irrefutable facts. Sasuke recalled the night of the Wes Anderson movie premiere. Itachi blocked the bathroom door and refused to allow Sasuke entrance. Itachi was deadpan when Naruto and Shisui exited the bathroom. Thinking back...Sasuke knew at that moment Itachi was aware of what Naruto was doing, and if Itachi knew then Shisui knew. Yet something told Sasuke Minato had no idea...so what was the reason?

Sasuke thought back to the first time Naruto brought up Itachi's name. It was strange and unusual and out of character. The only reason Naruto would bring up Itachi's name was if they had bumped into each other...and if it was because Itachi sold Naruto Callisto...then of course Naruto wouldn't willingly tell Sasuke the circumstances of why. Sasuke felt anger as why Naruto refused to tell him from the beginning what was happening.

"What?! NO! Of course not! Why would I? I wouldn't do that to you!" Naruto yelled as he turned his head to look at Sasuke. He felt enraged with the accusations. 

"You did a lot of things to me, Naruto. What reason would Shisui and Itachi have for you...prostituting?"

"He wanted me to get close to Biwa Juzo." 

"Why?"

"To get close to Shimura Danzo."

The tightness in Sasuke's chest didn't loosen and his stomach continued to churn. He felt his intestines knot up. He felt shaky and unwell. Naruto had engaged in prostitution. Naruto had crawled into bed with nameless client after nameless client...and crawled into bed with Sasuke and kissed him with the same mouth. He did this and Itachi was aware...he did this and Shisui was aware...all because they wanted a political scandal for Shimura's downfall? Fucking pathetic. The adults in Konoha were dog shit.

"I'm sorry Sasuke...for everything I did to you. I was in a dark place...but I'm back..." Naruto spoke softly. He could feel warmth radiate off of Sasuke. There was only a few inches from them as they sat side by side on Sasuke's bed. He wanted Naruto to stop apologizing...because Sasuke wanted to apologize...yet the words couldn't be formed.

"Don't meet up with Itachi...Shisui isn't any better either!" Sasuke demanded. He ignored Naruto's apology yet again. His mind wrapped around Itachi and Naruto. It was dangerous. There could be an ulterior motive. There probably was an ulterior motive. Fugaku was dangerous for Naruto's existence. It wasn't going to be enough that Minato had willingly stepped down as Yondaime and was in Suna. The fact that Naruto was still breathing and living in Konoha was a threat to Fugaku. Itachi was ordered to assassinate Shisui. Naruto did not need to be mixed up in the middle of it. 

Naruto went silent.

"Do you understand? It's dangerous. So don't meet up with Itachi...or Shisui alone! Okay?" Sasuke repeated.

"Okay...okay!"

"And stop putting yourself into dangerous positions!"

"Thank you, Sasuke."

Naruto spoke softly. He turned to smile warmly at Sasuke. His expression caused Sasuke's face to flush. They were so close. Too close. Sasuke held out his hand and pushed Naruto's face away.

"Don't look at me like that usuratonkachi!" Sasuke exhaled and pulled away. Naruto erupted into pure laughter. He couldn't remember the last time Sasuke called him that and his face flushed pink. His heartbeat increased and he smiled. 

Before Sasuke pushed himself off the bed Naruto reached out and grabbed hold of Sasuke's hand. He seized up as he looked at Naruto's fingers wrapping around Sasuke's hand. Naruto's hand felt hot and it burned his flesh. Goosebumps formed on Sasuke's arm and a shiver went down his spine. He was afraid of what Naruto was going to do...but even more afraid of how he would respond.

"I am sorry for everything I did," Naruto said again. His expression was serious and genuine. His blue eyes bore deep into Sasuke's. So deep that if Naruto wanted to he could reach out and touch Sasuke's soul. The more Naruto said it...the more Sasuke was beginning to believe him.

"Let's finish this project..." Sasuke spoke hastily as he pulled his hand from Naruto's and moved his body back to his desk.

"Hm." Naruto agreed.


	40. The Light Behind Your Eyes

# The Light Behind Your Eyes

 

"Hey...um...Sasuke?" Sakura asked. 

They walked alongside each other. It was the first Sunday in December, and the temperature hovered a little above freezing, causing their breath to come out in billowing white smoke. It hadn't yet snowed but the sky was gray and overcast as if on the verge of blanketing the earth in snow. 

"Hm?"

Sakura's eyes were transfixed at Sasuke's left hand. She reached her hand out but when her fingers brushed against the inside of his palm he retched it away. A look of disgust flashed across his face. If Sakura noticed she chose to ignore it and she smiled nervously. Her hand pushed back a lock of cotton candy pink hair behind her ear. She was determined. She wanted to become closer to Sasuke. She concluded he was shy when it came to romance, especially public displays of affection, and she wanted to change that...she wanted more from him.

"I want us to hold hands when we walk together." 

She held her hand out to Sasuke. He hesitated. They had been dating for five months and he could count on one hand the number of times he showed any affection to Sakura. He was neglecting her, and it was beginning to show. He looked at her outstretched hand, and her nervous smile that seemed to quiver at the corners. Her eyes glossed over as if any moment she was going to burst into tears.

Sasuke reluctantly threaded his fingers with Sakura's and held her hand. Her hand felt cold and clammy. It felt as if he was holding a mannequin's hand. He felt absolutely nothing...no he felt apathetic. The opposite was felt for Sakura. An uncontrollable heat washed over her. A tingling that began at the base of her neck crept down her spine, causing a shiver to ripple through her body. She was filled with immense happiness. She felt weightless. She thought she was going to float off the ground and was glad Sasuke had anchored her.

"Were you with Naruto yesterday?" Sakura asked as the two walked closer to the library. Hand in hand. Sasuke glanced down at Sakura. Her chin was pulled down, and her eyes focused on the asphalt path. The lock of hair that was pulled behind her ear fell back into her face. She had been bringing Naruto up a lot in conversation.

"Yes. We're partners in Art History."

"It's just. You didn't work with your previous partner outside of the classroom...so...why did you work with Naruto?" _Especially Naruto_ , she wanted to ask. Her cheeks burned with jealously. 

"We ran into each other at the museum. He had completed his half of the assignment. It was rational to complete the assignment yesterday than it was to prolong everything."

"So...you're not planning on spending anymore time with him?"

"No. The professor changes our partners for each assignment. This will be the last time."

"Oh. I see."

The two entered the library and walked into the cafe. Sasuke's eyes immediately fell to the familiar blonde. He was sitting at a table with the Suna siblings. All three of them. Temari was leaning back in her seat and laughing, whereas Kankuro had slammed a fist on the table and appeared to be ranting over something he found on his phone. Naruto was straddling the back of the chair and holding his togo coffee cup with both hands, and Gaara had his hand propping up his head and looked unamused.

Sasuke and Sakura got into the queue of students waiting to order. The cafe was uncharacteristically busy. Then again Sasuke usually went in the afternoons to the library. He stole another look at Naruto. He was leaning close to the rust-haired boy sitting besides him and saying something Sasuke couldn't hear. It was the youngest Suna sibling. He was the same boy with Naruto when Sakura and Sasuke stumbled upon the aftermath of a schoolyard scuffle. Only it was less of a scuffle and more of Naruto straddling a boy, and purposely choking him with his headphone cord. 

"It's that boy! I heard he's a recluse and barely leaves his dormitory...I also heard he has some psychological problems." Sakura whispered as she peeked over her shoulder immediately recognizing the familiar rust-haired boy.

Sasuke thought back to that day. He had full intentions of pulling Naruto off the boy but it was Sakura who reacted first. She pulled Naruto back into consciousness and shooed him away before he was caught by the professors. She purposely protected Naruto so that Sasuke wouldn't have to. But Sasuke also knew that Sakura cared about Naruto just like Sasuke did...it was that familiarity of knowing him since they were five years old. The bond, although frayed and pulled thin, was still there and it connected them all like a spider web. If Gaara had psychological problems...then what did Naruto have? 

' _He's fucking psychotic!_ ' the boy Naruto was straddling coughed and wheezed after Naruto and Gaara left the scene. There were ligature marks forming around his neck from the cord. Sakura chastised the boys for willfully picking a fight with Naruto. She was defending Naruto and accusing them for getting their just desserts. 

' _We didn't! Stupid faggot just stuck his nose in where it didn't belong! Do you think we're stupid enough to willfully pick a fight with a goddamn murderer?!_ ' the fat boy argued. It was those words that silenced Sakura. Oh...that's right. Naruto murdered somebody. A coldness washed over Sakura and without another word left the three boys. 

"He's Naruto's roommate. I bet it was Naruto who dragged him out...they seem to be pretty close," Sakura spoke. She turned back around to look at the special's written on the chalkboard hanging on the wall above the baristas. 

"Oh they have peppermint! Cha!"

Sasuke was looking at the menu when he heard four sets of chairs being pushed back. He turned to see Naruto and the Suna siblings walking towards them. Naruto had one arm swung around Gaara's neck and pulled the shorter boy close to him. Naruto was engrossed in conversation with Gaara. Sasuke looked to Gaara. Although he looked displeased by Naruto's presence he didn't appear to put up any protest or attempted to pry himself from Naruto. A small smile tugged at the corner of Gaara's mouth as Naruto continued prattling on. Naruto brought the coffee togo cup to his lips and took a sip, only then did he notice Sasuke staring at him. 

"Well...well...well...Look who we have here," Kankuro spoke vindictively at the sight of Sasuke. 

Naruto moved his attention from Sasuke to Sakura. Blue eyes then looked down at them holding hands. Before turning his attention to Kankuro. Naruto's expression was unreadable. When he was in public the blonde had become an expert at hiding his true feelings. Sasuke turned his attention to Kankuro.

"Does your father think slandering and scapegoating our father will win him Hokage? You've got to be fucking kidding me," Kankuro sneered.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura interjected. Her hand tightening around Sasuke's hand. There must have been another media frenzy, and she wanted to pull out her phone to see what the headlines read.

"The _Interim Hokage_ is chicken shit. That's what I'm talking about," Kankuro growled between clenched teeth. He grabbed hold of Sasuke's winter jacket and pulled him close. His breath was hot against Sasuke's face. Sasuke let go of Sakura's hand and smirked at Kankuro.

"LET GO OF HIM!" Sakura screamed and soon the students around them began moving away. The air turned ominous. Kankuro was massive. But Sasuke remained unflinching. 

"...well the Kazekage's son's breath smells like dog shit," Sasuke spoke in his matter-of-fact voice. Kankuro jerked Sasuke even closer. He was on the verge of punching him. What was left of his self-control was rapidly splintering and coming apart. 

"Kankuro...let go of him," Temari spoke. There was no weight to her words. They were meaningless. She didn't mean them herself they were just something she knew she'd ought to say giving the situation. Like Willy Wonka right before an Ompa Lompa song. 

Kankuro shoved Sasuke back with all his strength. It caused Sasuke to misstep and fall backwards. His tailbone slammed against the tiled floor and his hands moved back to catch himself. Sakura instantly knelt down, her arms wrapping protectively around Sasuke's shoulders. She scowled up at Kankuro.

"Naruto...your father stepped down and allowed this spineless bastard's father control? I don't know who I should punch first...you...or him," Kankuro growled.

Kankuro turned his attention to Naruto. He still had his arm around Gaara's neck, and rested his head up against his brother's. The expression on Naruto's face was unreadable. Just like Sasuke's unflinching face it only angered Kankuro more and the last of his self-control was shattering. Gaara looked on with mild curiosity. Naruto seemed more interested in what Sasuke was _doing_ rather than what Kankuro was _saying_.

"Let me beat the snot out of this putrid shit of a kid and send his shitty father a message. Please, Temari!" Kankuro growled to Temari from over his shoulder.

Sasuke was jumping to his feet, he had balled his hand up into a fist and aiming it at Kankuro. Naruto witnessed this first, reacted, dropping the coffee togo cup in the process. Naruto shoved Kankuro out of the way and placed his body between the two boys. Sasuke punched Naruto across the right side of the face. Sasuke's eyes grew wide as he recognized the blonde's face jerking with the collision instead of Kankuro.

Kankuro laughed loudly as he spun around to see Naruto holding his hands up in defense. Sasuke attempted to lunge at Kankuro, but Naruto's body mirrored Sasuke's, and he remained in between.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out. She tried to intervene but Temari stepped in. The older girl held her arms out making herself into a barrier.

"Sasuke! Stop it!" Naruto yelled. 

"MOVE NARUTO!" Sasuke screamed in Naruto's face. He shoved Naruto backwards, and when he bounced back Sasuke grabbed the fabric of Naruto's shirt, "Move...or I'll physically remove you myself!"

"Pussy...can't even fight your own battles? Fucking pathetic just like your chicken shit father." Kankuro taunted.

"Kankuro! Enough!" Temari yelled as she wrapped her arms around Sakura preventing her from jumping into the fray.

Gaara's attention focused on Naruto. The blonde had a knack for involving himself in matters that didn't concern him, and placing himself in the eye of the storm. Almost like Naruto needed to be the center of attention. At. All. Times. Gaara rolled his eyes and hoped Naruto got the shit kicked out of him.

Sasuke punched Naruto again across the face. Wanting the blonde to fall and hit the ground, hard, so he could go after that shit-talking Kankuro. He didn't go down. Just momentarily stunned. Before Sasuke could reach Kankuro, Naruto had tackled Sasuke. The collision felt like a freight train and knocked the breath from him. Sasuke was taken down as if they were playing a game of rugby.

"Sasuke...come on get a grip on yourself!" Naruto yelled as he attempted to pin Sasuke's arms down above his head.

"GET OFF OF ME NARUTO!" Sasuke screamed as he tried to buck Naruto off of him.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO! UCHIHA SASUKE!" An authoritative voice boomed over the cafe.

It was in that moment when Naruto had managed to pin both of Sasuke's wrists down on the ground when he looked up to see Kakashi looming above them. Naruto's fingers loosened around Sasuke's wrists. Releasing him he pulled his body off of Sasuke.

Ah...fuck.

*****

"What is your problem? Always butting your nose in where it doesn't belong!" Sasuke growled as he and Naruto left the academic administration building.

Naruto remained silent his arms stuffed into his coat pocket. Naruto's swollen cheek and jawline was bruising with reds, and blues, and purples.

"Just stop concerning yourself with me!" Sasuke threatened.

"I can't!" Naruto snapped. He looked hard at Sasuke before sighing deeply. Sasuke felt his face flush and he was the first to look away. Naruto continued his explanation. 

"My father is working hard on the alliance with Suna...that your father is doing everything in his power to destroy...do you really think I could just sit back and watch you get into a fist fight with the Kazekage's son?"

"Kankuro is all brawn and no brain...I can't believe you lost your cool over something so stupid..." Naruto lectured.

"You're one to talk! Sakura and I found you choking out a boy just the other day! Want to explain that to me?"

"That was...that was different."

"Yeah...sure it was."

"You're the Hokage's son now...and you can't lose your shit just because somebody criticizes your father."

"I won't let anybody slander my family!"

"Well...now others are going to come after you if you keep it up. You losing control won't reflect well on your father, and it'll only make you an easy target."

"Oh yeah? And since when did you start caring about my father?"

"I don't...I just care about you."

Sasuke's face flushed deeper and he was a loss for words. The two walked in silence. Naruto's words rang true, and Sasuke hated it. He didn't know how Fugaku would react if he had heard about Sasuke getting into a fist fight with the Kazekage's son. He would have used it as a political platform and manipulated it into his agenda to further perpetuate the hateful message about Suna. 

' _I just care about you._ '

Sasuke's eyes trailed the bruises that were forming on Naruto's swollen face. He didn't know when Naruto became interested in politics. It felt like it was just yesterday when they had a scuffle in the schoolyard back in middle school. Naruto protested that what their fathers did didn't concern them, protested that they were separate from the actions of their fathers, and that Sasuke was stupid for thinking otherwise. And now Naruto was giving him political advice? Ha. Sasuke scoffed at it...as if Naruto had a leg to stand on giving his track record. 

"Are you happy?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Sasuke asked as he was pulled from his thoughts.

"Are you happy with Sakura?"

"Yes..." Sasuke responded automatically. He barely had time to process the question.

Naruto nodded his head slowly and a small smiled formed on his lips, "Good. That's great. I'm glad..."

The expression Naruto held caused his chest to ache, and just as he began to experience painful breathing, anger began to settle. He didn't want Naruto to wear such an expression. It was Naruto's fault. Everything that had happened was a direct result of what Naruto did...what Naruto had done to Sasuke...and what he continued to do without any concern for those around him.

"What's with that expression on your face? It's funny how...everything that has happened is entirely your fault...and yet you have that expression? That's really cheap, Naruto."

Naruto stopped walking, his mouth agape, and his mind went blank. Sasuke stopped walking, noticing Naruto wasn't beside him any longer, and turned around to look at him. The two stood parallel and stared at each other. 

"Wh-what are you saying? What do you mean it's my fault?"

"Exactly what I said...it is your fault. In what world wouldn't it be your fault, Naruto?"

"It's just...even if nothing happened...where do you think we would have ended up, Sasuke? It wouldn't have worked between us. That's what you said in the beginning...so don't go blaming everything on me!" 

Naruto spoke his eyes shifting side to side. Naruto wondered if things would have been different if he never met Haku. But no matter how many times he thought about it the path lead to the same conclusion. Sasuke would have to conceal their relationship...and it would have destroyed Naruto. Things were better off this way. Naruto cared too much about Sasuke. He was happy just having Sasuke talk to him like this. He already made his resolution. He was happy for Sasuke and Sakura. Being friends with Sasuke was worth more, because he couldn't imagine a life where Sasuke wasn't there. 

"Christsake's Naruto!" Sasuke growled and spun around. He began walking away. Naruto was right again and it angered him. 

Naruto caught up alongside Sasuke and explained, "No! What I meant is...we're better off friends! It works out better this way...you and Sakura dating...and well, you and me...as just friends. Like it should have been from the beginning."

"Who'd want to be your friend?" Sasuke scoffed rolling his eyes.

"I was kinda hoping you."

They entered Cypress Hall. Kakashi reprimanded them to return to the dormitories for the remainder of the day, _after_ lecturing them at length for fighting on school property. Kakashi told them to return to his office after classes were complete Monday afternoon to receive their punishment in full. Kakashi explained he needed time to become creative he was going on about artistic license and it sent chills down their spines. 

Sasuke looked at Naruto's swollen face and sighed, "Come to my room...I have an ice pack. Your face is already looking like shit."

Naruto touched his cheek tenderly as Sasuke called the elevator, "Well...you didn't hold back...how else is my body supposed to respond?"

"You could have at least blocked better. Instead of acting like a doormat," Sasuke countered. 

"Well it looked like you really needed to punch somebody, and well, it took me a while to warm up...but I did stop you at the end."

"Barely."

*****

Naruto's feet pressed against the floor as he laid back on Sasuke's bed holding the ice pack to his cheek. His eyes stared up at the vaulted ceiling.

It was the second day in a row that Naruto was in Sasuke's room, and he was absorbing more details. He got a new comforter set. It was softer, thicker, cozier, and the color of a midwinter's day. Naruto rubbed his fingers over the comforter. It was so soft it made Naruto's comforter feel like a brillo pad in comparison. Naruto rolled his eyes to see Sasuke sitting sideways in his desk chair reading a news article on his cell phone.

"What do the headlines say?" Naruto asked. Sasuke lowered the cell phone.

"Kankuro was right...Fugaku is scapegoating Suna for Konoha's financial state...citing unfair trade practices which is bleeding Konoha, while Suna profits. ' _In Konoha we don't tolerate illegal trade practices._ '"

Sasuke looked at Naruto laying on his bed, "Why did Minato step down as Hokage?"

"It isn't obvious? I wasn't a good friend...I wasn't a good person...and I wasn't a good son. I think it became unbearable for my father to have to choose." 

Naruto explained and pushed himself up to get a better look at Sasuke. It was obvious to Sasuke...but he wanted a better answer. It would have made sense for Minato to step down immediately after Naruto murdered Zabuza in the Twin Leaves Hotel. Stepping down five months later when things were settled and forgotten. It didn't make sense. It was out of the blue. Sasuke didn't respond. 

Naruto continued to hold the ice pack to his cheek and a faint smile spread his lips, "Although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy with his choice."

Sasuke's phone began to vibrate. There was an incoming call from Sakura. Naruto's eyes shifted to the vibrating mobile phone. Sasuke accepted the call and brought the phone up to his mouth, "Hello, Sakura..."

"Sasuke! What happened? Are you okay? You didn't respond to my text messages!"

"I'm sorry...I just got done with Kakashi. He wants me to report in tomorrow after classes."

"Did you explain properly why you were so upset?"

"Hm."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm in my room...Kakashi told me I needed to remain in the dormitories for the remainder of the day to reflect."

Sakura continued to talk. Naruto stood up and mouthed, ' _I'm gunna go_ ', before turning his body to walk away.

It was then when Sasuke reached his hand out, and grabbed Naruto by the wrist. Preventing him from leaving. He mumbled something about needing to go and would contact Sakura later, and ended the phone call abruptly. Naruto turned around his blue eyes focused on Sasuke's hand wrapped tightly around his wrist. He was holding him so tightly his skin was turning white. The heat from Sasuke's fingers caused his skin to itch.

"You're just going to leave with my ice pack?" Sasuke asked. Still holding onto Naruto's wrist. Naruto lowered the ice pack and handed it over to Sasuke. He looked at the outstretched ice pack. Naruto was inadvertently calling out Sasuke's bluff. Sasuke wanted Naruto to stay a little while longer...and Naruto knew this...right?

"Usuratonkachi...at least wait here until the swelling has gone down," Sasuke spoke haughtily. He released his hold on Naruto. The blonde perked up at Sasuke's words. Blue eyes went to the finger marks that were left on his flesh, before bringing them back to Sasuke's inky black orbs. Sasuke was waiting for Naruto to say something...anything...

"Wanna watch a movie?" Naruto asked with a beaming smile. Sasuke smiled back. Relieved.

"Only if you promise not to fall asleep...like you always do!"

"Promise!" Naruto beamed with his hundred watt smile and flashed a peace sign.

*****

Halfway through the movie Sasuke looked over to see Naruto was fast asleep curled up on his side resting on the ice pack. Naruto slept peacefully.

He wondered if Naruto still had nightmares that caused him to scream and thrash in his sleep, and if he did...was Gaara aware? And if he was...what was Gaara's response? Did Gaara allow Naruto to crawl into bed with him because Naruto was too afraid to sleep by himself? Did Gaara allow Naruto to leave his desk lamp on because Naruto was too afraid of what lurked in the darkness? Sasuke didn't really want to know the answers. He just wanted to make sure that Naruto was able to sleep at night, and if he wasn't...what did Gaara do, if anything, to comfort him. 

Sasuke was sitting in his desk chair. The movie still played on the laptop propped up on his desk. Sasuke walked to his bed and crawled on top of it. He rolled to his side where he mirrored Naruto. Sasuke's eyes traced the three whisker-like scars on Naruto's cheeks and he reached his hand out and traced them with his fingertips. Naruto remained in a deep slumber.

Sasuke exhaled. It felt like they were children again. He felt so comfortable and at peace alongside Naruto. Sasuke's eyes trailed to Naruto's outstretched palm faced up and his fingers curling inward. He lowered his right hand over Naruto's right hand and thread his fingers with his. Naruto's fingers felt cold as if all of the blood had drained from them. Sasuke intertwined his fingers with Naruto's, allowing his body warmth to transfer to Naruto. He held onto him for a few more minutes. He was momentarily memorized at how easily their hands fit so perfectly with each other.

"Usuratonkachi...who'd want to be your friend. Stupid...you promise you wouldn't fall asleep." Sasuke whispered. He continued to stare at Naruto's undisturbed face. 

After a few more minutes Sasuke pushed himself back up. He released Naruto's hand. He went to the closet and pulled down a quilt. He draped it over Naruto's sleeping form, before sitting back down at his desk chair. He finished watching the movie.


	41. In Hell I'll Be in Good Company

# In Hell I'll Be in Good Company

 

Naruto stopped dreaming when he slept. When he closed his eyes it was blackness and he transcended time and space into nothingness. There was a cocktail of medication he took. The orange prescription bottles lined the edge of his desk, and he tapped the top of each one. Recalling the events that had happened a little while ago.

Naruto had fallen asleep in Sasuke's bed. A quilt covered him. He became overheated, and experienced a nightmare. The first nightmare in months. He woke up in a cold sweat. He was coughing, and gagging, and clawing at his neck. Naruto felt an invisible belt tightening around his neck and it took a while for his brain to comprehend that it was a nightmare and it wasn't actually happening.

Biwa Juzo was dead. Momochi Zabuza was dead. Rotting and stinking six feet under locked in boxes. They were dead. But alive in his dreams. 

Sasuke was immediately by his side and asking if he was okay. A hand reached out and rested on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto had pulled Sasuke into a hug and wrapped his arms tightly around Sasuke's chest. He buried his face in the crook of Sasuke's neck, and clung to the fabric of his shirt. He inhaled Sasuke's scent until he calmed down. The familiarity of the smell, touch, and presence of Sasuke had grounded him. He didn't want to let go.

Naruto felt Sasuke's arms wrap around him. Felt the pressure of Sasuke clinging to Naruto. When Naruto fully regained his senses he shoved Sasuke away, apologized, and left his room.

Gaara walked out of the bathroom, towel around his neck, and dressed in his pajamas. He was using the plush white towel to dry his hair when his eyes fell to his blonde roommate. Naruto's complexion was pale, sweat dripped down the sides of his face, his shirt clung to his skin, and although he was physically there it felt as if he was miles away.

"Naruto?" 

Gaara asked as he stopped walking. Vacant blue eyes shifted towards the sound of his name being called. He was slowly returning to the here and now.

"Every time I close my eyes I see him…" Naruto spoke in a monotonous tone and flat affect. Gaara sat on his bed not breaking eye contact with Naruto.

"When I pulled the trigger...it felt like a dream. Nothing felt real. It was only when I felt the weight of his body collapse onto me...that I knew I wasn't dreaming...and the cruelest part was....I wouldn't even let him cum. He died with blue balls and an erect cock hanging out of his unzipped pants…"

Naruto smirked at the sickening memory and combed his fingers through his hair. A laugh escaped his mouth, "...what a ridiculous way to die. I wonder what kind of death I'll have. Is it too much to ask to die old and in my bed?"

Naruto began to uncap his prescription bottles one by one, and popped the cocktail of medications into his mouth as if they were candy.

"It feels like I have a monster living within me…" Naruto continued as he brought the lip of his water bottle to his mouth, and swallowed the pills.

"Mmh," Gaara answered in agreement.

"Gaara can I-"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT! You cross that red tape and I swear I will lay you flat on your back Uzumaki Naruto!" Gaara yelled as he threw his wet towel at Naruto's face. 

"Jeez! I wasn't going to ask you anything weird! I just wanted to ask you if I could use your shampoo 'cause I ran out...overreacting much?" Naruto asked as he pulled the towel from his face.

"Oh…yeah...you can...just don't use too much," Gaara spoke, but continued to eye Naruto suspiciously.

"Ya know...you should show more emotion when you're with other people, Gaara. You'll be well received if you do...and you'll make more friends." 

Naruto spoke as he stood up and moved to his dresser to pull out clean pajamas and clean underwear.

"Tch like I want to be around noisy people all the time. I can barely tolerate being around you."

"You're so not cute!"

*****

Winter break started with the traditional tree lighting ceremony of the blue spruce Christmas Tree. It was erected in the middle of the courtyard. It was an annual event that the academy sponsored which included live music, games, and food trucks. Sasuke had a Styrofoam cup of hot apple cider in one hand, and his other hand was linked together with Sakura.

She was dressed in a red peacoat, and a white scarf fastened around her neck. She was exceptionally blithe today and it showed with a large smile that caused her emerald eyes to sparkle. She was looking at stained glass Christmas ornaments. While Sasuke looked through the crowd of students that had filed into the courtyard. He watched small groups cluster together, and individual students intermingle with one another. His eyes were searching for somebody. Eyes moving from face to face in the crowd. He didn't know who he was searching for until he saw him...

Naruto was standing with both arms behind his head and he was laughing. Naruto was wearing an oversized jacket with fox fur hood. He was surrounded by a group of familiar faces. On one side of Naruto was Sai, the other stood Hinata, and across from him Ino and Shikamaru. They were all staring at Naruto and laughing. Even Shikamaru had a small smile on his lips. He watched enamored as Naruto was in the middle of telling a story. His facial expressions animated, and it invoked more laughter in the group, as he began acting out parts of the story.

Since the day Naruto fell asleep in Sasuke's bed and woke up in a panic he had been avoiding Sasuke. Kakashi's punishment included them searching the internet for a signed, hardcover, limited edition copy of _Icha Icha_ by Jiraiya. They found it on ebay and were forced to sit in front of the screen for three hours bidding to ensure that Kakashi was the top bidder. After they handed in their art history project the professor assigned new partners, and Naruto changed desks. It left Sasuke feeling out of sorts. He felt displaced and uncomfortable. His stomach has been off ever since. 

"I want to play that game..." Sakura said as she pointed towards what looked like a magnetic fishing carnival game.

Sasuke looked at the carnival game before stealing a look back at Naruto. The three Suna siblings joined Naruto. The blonde swung an arm around Gaara immediately. Naruto pointed at his roommate as the story continued. Sasuke watched Gaara's expression, which was typical devoid of any emotion except apathy, twisted into mortification. Naruto was telling a story that involved Gaara. The rust-haired boy covered his face with his hand and shook his head. It only caused the group to howl in laughter. Proving Naruto's point and emphasized his story.

Kankuro held out his phone to Naruto. The nodded his head in agreement at what was shown to him. Sasuke watched as Naruto waved goodbye and left with the Suna siblings. Where was he going? Why was he leaving with them? They were leaving campus. All four of them. Naruto with his arm around Gaara. Temari walking alongside Gaara, and Kankuro walking besides Naruto.

Sasuke wanted to know more about Minato's intentions with Naruto playing diplomat. His stomach churned. He just wanted to talk to Naruto but didn't have an excuse. 

"Sasuke?" 

Sakura asked and he turned to see Sakura staring up at him. Her eyes looked in the direction that Sasuke was staring attentively. All she saw were their friends grouped together. Ino. Shikamaru. Sai. Hinata. She sighed in relief. Naruto wasn't present. 

"Let's get some food at one of the food trucks," Sakura suggested leading them away.

"Why are the Suna siblings attending this school?" Sasuke asked.

"The Yondaime publicly announced it was a symbol of the countries alliances with one another. Suigetsu is here from Mizu no Kuni. Seems like it was only a matter of time before there were students from Suna."

"Hn."

Sasuke didn't think of it that way. Suigetsu mentioned it on multiple occasions. Him being enrolled at the school was a political move. The answer still didn't satisfy him. It didn't feel right. It was a feeling he couldn't shake.

"Do you think there's another reason? Did Fugaku say anything?"

"I just have this feeling that the Suna siblings are hiding something is all. And Naruto knows what they're hiding...and is helping them hide it. There is a reason why my father doesn't trust Suna...and a reason why my father didn't trust Minato."

"There's political turmoil in Suna...it could have been a strategic move the Kazekage decided to make to keep his children safe. I just don't understand why it took so long for Minato to step down. He publicly cited retiring to spend more time with family...and yet he goes to Suna as an Ambassador, and leaves Naruto at this school? It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And well there is a rumor going around..."

"What's the rumor?"

"Minato is back in Konoha, but when he returns to Suna he will be bringing Naruto with him. Naruto will transfer to school in Suna for Spring semester."

"How do you know this?"

"I saw some transfer documents in the administration building. Minato applied to transfer Naruto."

"But...he's on probation he isn't allowed to leave the country when he's on probation!"

"Yeah...and he also murdered somebody and all he got was a few months in a psychiatric hospital. I looked up the place he went to...it was a glorified resort hospital," Sakura explained bitterly.

*****

Naruto was sitting on the bench at the train station platform.

The train carrying the Suna siblings left twenty minutes ago. The siblings were spending their winter break home. It was a publicity move. The media and citizens of Suna wanted to see the Kazekage and his children as one happy, loving, family at the holidays. It was something Naruto knew all to well. Naruto was filmed and photographed the most with Minato on the holidays. 

Leaning up against the brick wall perpendicular, wearing a kitsune mask, was Uchiha Shisui. His arms were folded and one foot rested up against the wall. They were the only ones on the platform. The last train had left twenty minutes ago. Naruto sensed his presence and looked in his direction. 

"Isn't it a little dangerous for you to be out in the open?" 

Naruto asked with a heavy sigh. He leaned back against the bench resting his elbows on the backrest. He tilted his head up to stare at the steal beams of the train platform gabled roof. Meeting Shisui was inevitable, and Naruto knew meeting at the train station was the likely place Shisui would ambush him. Naruto was learning and adapting. Shisui remained quiet. It unnerved Naruto. Left him on edge despite trying to act calm and collected. 

"Itachi contacted me...he wanted information on your whereabouts," Naruto continued. He shifted his eyes to Shisui. The mask hid Shisui's expressions, and his body remained still. 

"Oh. Shame." Shisui finally spoke. He tilted his head to the side. 

"Yeah...it's a damn shame you're still alive. Go eat shit and die already!"

"That's my feral child. My how I've missed you."

"Where's my father?" Naruto demanded. A look of pure disgust made it's home on his facial features.

In the time it took Naruto to blink he felt Shisui position himself behind him. Shisui's arms wrapped around Naruto from behind, the kitsune mask was moved to the side. Shisui extended his tongue and glided it down Naruto's ear. A ripple of pleasure enveloped Naruto followed by panic. A disgusted noise was emitted from Naruto's mouth as he began rubbing the saliva off his earlobe with the fabric of his jacket.

"You bastard! You sick fuck!" Naruto swore as he tried prying Shisui off. Shisui was staring straight ahead of Naruto. Spotting his true prey.

"Come out from the shadows, Itachi." Shisui called out as he continued holding Naruto from behind.

"Itachi!?" Naruto yelled as Itachi emerged from the shadows of the train platform.

"My-oh-my...little feral child...you don't even know when a predator is stalking you. I could smell the traitorous rat a mile away. Smells dead and bloated with gasses." 

Shisui taunted loudly, more so, for Itachi's benefit than for the squirming blonde. Itachi kept his attention on Shisui and did not avert his eyes. Shisui looked up at the cameras that were positioned strategically all over the train platform. He counted six different CCTV cameras capturing six different angles of the train platform. Shisui maneuvered the kitsune mask so that it was back to covering his face. He jumped over the bench and sat down alongside Naruto, crossing his legs. Naruto jumped as Shisui sat next to him. The other man moved as if flickering through time.

"How have you've been doing Itachi? It looks like you've lost weight...are you not eating well?" Shisui asked with mock worry.

"I wasn't expecting you to be here Shisui," Itachi spoke evenly. He was expressionless and monotonous.

"I think he came to kill you," Shisui whispered into Naruto's ear.

"What'd ya mean kill me?! Fuck outta here!" Naruto yelled as he tried to stand up, but Shisui wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulder, and pulled the blonde close to him.

"See the beauty of information, Itachi? I knew you'd be here...hence why I am here. As much as my little feral child wants me dead I am still tasked with keeping him alive. That is if your true intentions were to kill him tonight. So Itachi...enlighten us. Is there such a kill order...and if so, who is the target?"

Itachi didn't answer right away. His mouth a straight line. Deadpan. He was the perfect agent.

"No such order has been enacted for Uzumaki Naruto."

"And what about Minato?"

"No."

"Ah...so that just leaves me." 

Shisui nodded his head. Itachi was telling the truth. He opened his mouth to ask a question but Itachi interrupted.

"I have another purpose for being here. Yuki Haku has gone missing."

"Haku!?" Naruto asked.

Naruto was purposely kept in the dark surrounding Haku's whereabouts. The last time he spoke to Haku was at the courthouse. Naruto was in handcuffs that bound his wrists together. He was struggling to pull up his pants in front of the urinal when Haku came into the bathroom. Haku upon seeing Naruto struggle went over and grabbed his pants, pulled the zipper up, and buttoned them close. Haku's last words to Naruto echoed in Naruto's skull. 

' _I'm debating..._ '

'Debating what?'

' _If I'm going to kill myself...or if I'm going to kill you. There is nothing left for me to live for anymore. You killed my one and only purpose in this world, Uzumaki Naruto. So tell me what am I supposed to do now?_ '

Naruto wasn't able to give Haku an answer. The bathroom door burst open and Uchiha Obito appeared and separated them. Naruto's case was called first and he was immediately pulled from the bathroom. That was the last time he had spoken to Haku. 

"Haku took something of importance. That if released would put both the Godaime and Shimura Danzo in a precarious predict we wish to avoid. A kill order was given for Yuki Haku."

"You fucking bastard..." Naruto growled at Itachi, and he jumped up into a standing position and began backing away from both Uchihas. 

"You piece of shit! He was probably being blackmailed just like I am! I hope it gets out! I'm not helping you! I'm not helping either of you! What you allowed to happen to me. To Haku! To both of us! No way! I refuse. You can both eat shit and die."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. But the reason I am telling you is because I have convinced Godaime and Shimura if what was stolen was recovered the kill order will be lifted. You lied under oath, Uzumaki Naruto. Clearly you care about Haku. I believe you will make the right decision."

"Ah, I see. So if I find Yuki Haku first and reclaim what was stolen. What a fun game us three are playing." Shisui laughed putting the pieces of information Itachi had given him together. 

"This isn't a game! This is Haku's life!" Naruto screamed his voice echoed across the empty train platform.

"That is where you are wrong. Life is but a game. Merrily, merrily, merrily. Life is but a _game_. But don't worry. I will not let anything happen to you my little feral child," Shisui purred. 

Naruto balked.

"Think of it as a bargaining tool. We reclaim what Haku had stolen and we can use it as leverage to prevent the release of that home movie you stared in. And you can save Haku's life. It's a win-win." 

Shisui explained as he stood up and faced Naruto his fingers went to the gun in its holster. Itachi turned around and began walking away. Shisui called out his name causing him to pause.

"The kill order for me."

"Yes."

"What do you intend to do?"

Itachi didn't answer. He continued to walk away until the shadows swallowed him up whole.

"If it were me...I'd kill you," Naruto growled. 

"Hush. My little feral child. You need to behave yourself."

*****

Naruto emerged from the justice center where he finished up his Saturday meeting with Might Guy. It was the middle of December and the temperatures continued to hoover just above freezing. Global warming was on track to making it a green Christmas. Naruto turned his head to the side seeing a familiar face. Shisui leaned up against the wall. Fuck. Naruto rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets.

Shisui had chosen to leave the Anbu mask at home and was dressed in street clothes. Pushing off the wall he jogged alongside Naruto. Swiveling his body around and jogging backwards he asked, "How did everything go with Might Guy?"

"Get away from me, and stop following me creep!" Naruto growled, and quickened his pace.

"Ah...come on. We're on the same team. Where are we going? I'm tasked with keeping you safe," Shisui spoke as he continued to jog backwards. 

"Well you're doing a shitty job at it. I almost died twice you bastard!"

Everything flashed before his eyes. Everything that had happened at The Manor, and everything that had happened at the Twin Leaves Hotel. Everything that lead Naruto here. He stood in front of a neon flashing sign that flashed _Guys and Dolls_. A double entendre. A strip club. A gay strip club. It was here that Naruto ended up when he disappeared from the psychiatric hospital for two weeks. Here where he forced Minato to step down as Hokage. 

"Going from your probation officer to a strip club? My do you always surprise me. Are you reminiscing of the time spent here?" 

Shisui spoke with fascination as he looked up at the provocative establishment. Naruto rolled his eyes and pushed the front door open and entered. Shisui looked around. Scanning the streets and ensuring nothing was out of the ordinary before entering. Shisui knew Naruto took the bait and was looking for information on Haku's whereabouts. 

Naruto moved through the club. The front was empty. The main room was empty. It didn't open until 5:00PM. Naruto looked over his shoulder to see Shisui had joined him. Naruto pushed open the back door and entered the owner's office.

"Hey you fuckers! We're closed! You can't just-" a voice screamed as Naruto and Shisui appeared in the room and disturbed the actions that were happening behind closed doors. There is a reason why somebody should knock before entering a room.

"Naruto?! Is that you baby doll? I didn't recognize you with all those clothes on."

"Hey...Deidara...sorry uh...for interrupting..." Naruto spoke. 

His face flushed pink and he pivoted his body around like a robot. Cursing himself for not knocking. Shisui continued to stare at the two men intertwined with each other on the plush zebra print couch. He couldn't look away unlike his blonde counterpart. Deidara's long, blonde, hair cascaded over his shoulders like a sea of sunflowers, and wrapped around his body was a sequin dress. The dress was pushed up. Deidara was on his back, and between his legs, performing fellatio, was Sasori. Deidara's legs in the air, rested on Sasori's shoulders, and high heels strapped to his feet. The man's makeup was flawless. Smokey eye and a matte finish on his lips. 

"You finally got outta that psych hospital, baby doll? Yeah?" 

Deidara asked. Sasori pulled away. Deidara pushed himself up and pushed his legs closed. He already went soft and wasn't into group play. Deidara stood up and went to the liquor cart on the opposite side of the room. He began pouring red wine into a wine glass.

"Yeah it's been a couple months now." Naruto nodded his head. He remained with his back to the scene his thumb trailing the outline of his lips nervously.

"So what do you need baby doll. A job? I see you brought the handsome fuck boy with you again." 

Deidara turned around, long graceful fingers wrapped around the stemless glass. Deidara eyed Shisui up and down. Naruto turned to glance at Shisui who held his smirk and tongue; allowing Naruto to take the lead. Shisui was in street clothing and didn't wear anything discernible that would tie him back to his true identity. He appeared to revel in the scene as he turned to catch Naruto's gaze.

"Not exactly. I'm trying to get in touch with Haku. I need to meet with him."

"Did you contact Kisame?"

"No. I'd rather not...if possible."

"Yeah. I mean nobody _wants_ to be in contact with him but he'll probably help you get in touch with Haku."

"Is there anyway you can help me out, Deidara. Please?" Naruto asked his voice overflowing with charisma, and he flashed a pleading smile. It was the same smile that caused Deidara to take Naruto in when he disappeared from the pysch hospital. He was weak to pretty boys, with baby doll faces, and warm smiles.

"Come back tonight...and we'll talk. Maybe work something out, yeah?"

*****

Naruto jumped on the bus and bowed his head, "Thank you for waiting!"

He was breathless and turned around to see if there were any empty seats. His eyes locked onto Sasuke who was standing up, holding a metal bar. He was staring back at him. Naruto walked up to Sasuke and reached out to grab the metal bar. His hand an inch away from Sasuke's hand.

"Hey!" 

Naruto greeted nervously loosening his hold on the bar and shifting his weight to one foot. He was nervous. It was harder to avoid Sasuke when they were both on the same bus back to campus. It would have been ludicrous otherwise. The bus shifted gears and began jutting forward. Naruto lost his balance and lurched backwards. Sasuke reached out and grabbed Naruto's wrist steadying him.

"Be careful, usuratonkachi!"

"Sorry-sorry!" Naruto spoke as he regained his footing, straightened up, and grabbed the bar tightly. Sasuke released his hold on Naruto.

"What brings you to downtown Konoha?" Naruto asked.

"I had lunch with my father."

Naruto's stomach rumbled and he rolled his head back, "Ugh. That reminds me. I didn't eat lunch."

"What about you?" Sasuke asked a smile forming.

"Probation...every Saturday." 

Naruto spoke as he tilted his head and flashed a peace sign. Sasuke continued to stare at Naruto. The smile vanished from Sasuke's lips. There was something he needed to know, and he needed to know now.

"Are you transferring schools?" 

"What?"

"I don't want you to transfer schools."

"What?"

"You can't keep running away...you need to stay and make amends!" 

"Wait...what?"

"Did I stutter? Stop saying 'what'! Listen before you open your mouth, stupid!" Sasuke spoke angrily. He rolled his eyes and looked away. He was losing patience with Naruto. 

Naruto continued to stare at Sasuke. His eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. He was processing Sasuke's words. Sasuke asked if he was transferring schools, and then said he didn't want him to leave, and concluded with wanting him to stay and make amends. Naruto's heartbeat quickened, and he felt his palms becoming sweaty. Heat flushed to his cheeks. He shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. He felt happy. Just like the time when Sasuke asked Naruto to stay in his room. It made him really fucking happy. 

Naruto moved his hand so that it was covering Sasuke's hand on the metal bar. Sasuke's hand felt warm against his. He turned his attention back to Naruto with a look of astonishment. Naruto flashed Sasuke his warm, genuine, smile once more and settled the anxiety that had welled up deep inside. 

"No, I mean. I don't know what you're talking about. As far as I am aware. I am not transferring schools. 'Sides I'm on probation. I can't just leave the country. You don't have to worry, S'ske...I guess that means you have to put up with me a little while longer."

Naruto wasn't one-hundred percent sure what his father was scheming. His father often made decisions without consulting him. Naruto knew there was an underlying reason why Minato went to Suna. Naruto also aware he wasn't safe in Konoha. The look Fugaku gave him when he visited at the psychiatric hospital was of pure annihilation. He wasn't safe because Fugaku was Interim Hokage. He wasn't safe because the Uchiha were in possession of a kiddie smut film directed by Biwa Juzo and staring Uzumaki Naruto. Shisui asked Itachi if there was a kill order on Naruto...and Itachi denied this, and Shisui believed him...but that didn't mean one wasn't going to be enacted in the future. No...Naruto wasn't safe for a very long time stemming from the first time he was introduced to Haku. 

Naruto looked at Sasuke. A look of relief washed over the dark-haired boy. 

"Hey...are you busy?" Sasuke asked. 

"No...why?"

"I want to talk to you about something."

"Okay!"


	42. Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time

# Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time

 

 _Rewinding time back to 12 noon Saturday_.

"Shisui is back in Konoha," Fugaku commented coldly. He swished the amber whiskey around in the rocks glass before pouring it down his throat in one movement.

"Ah."

"So tell me Itachi. Why is he still breathing? And why have you appeared before me after all this time and he's still fucking breathing?!"

Itachi remained standing, expressionless, while his father sat comfortably in the high back restaurant chair of The York. Itachi's long hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. He was dressed in a long sleeved button-up shirt, black slacks, and a pair of black suspenders. His glock 22 was safely secured in his shoulder holster. Fugaku grabbed the Crown Royal whiskey bottle and poured more into the rocks glass. He lifted his obsidian black eyes to glare at Itachi, who decided to plead the fifth. The expression he gave Itachi demanded an explanation. Now. Itachi complied. 

"Minato is not seeking to return as Hokage. He made that perfectly clear. What would we gain with Shisui dead?"

"Shisui is a true genius, however, has opposed the Uchiha way since he was a child. And has publicly spoken _out_ against the Uchiha and _aligned_ himself with Minato. He has been a traitor to the Uchiha name, and an eyesore for years. Minato wouldn't have been where he was _without_ Shisui, and he continues to influence Minato. With Shisui dead _I_ wouldn't have to worry about opposition from Minato."

"We are still in possession of the video…"

"IT MEANS NOTHING!" Fugaku screamed. He slammed his hand down against the table rattling the glassware. Itachi remained calm and expressionless. Fugaku had tunnel vision on Uzumaki Naruto and Namikaze Minato. Seeing them as obstacles to his ultimate goal of legally taking on the Godaime name. 

"It means _nothing_ when that child-slut took those documents! Any status of his whereabouts?"

"No."

"I want you to continue to follow Uzumaki. That child-slut doesn't have anyone else to turn to. He's bound to contact him, and when he does I want him dead!"

Fugaku had enacted another kill order. The death of Yuki Haku. Itachi thought back to last night at the train platform where he had mistakenly ran into Shisui. Itachi's intention was to warn Naruto about the documents that were stolen, and the kill order that was giving. Haku had dug himself into a deep hole and was unable to climb out of on his own. Much to Itachi's surprise, Shisui, had informants of his own who had tipped him off on Itachi's objective. Now Itachi had to explain to Fugaku why he didn't kill Shisui, and then further convince him Shisui was worth more to them alive than dead. 

Itachi struggled with understanding human behavior. Itachi had watched the video of what happened with Naruto, Konohamaru, Haku, Zabuza, and Juzo that night at the Twin Leaves Hotel. It was a kiddie pornographic snuff film that would have made millions on the black market. It was sickening, and revealing. Haku was the one to pull the trigger and shot Naruto. And despite this, Naruto still defended Haku's actions, still lied under oath that it was Zabuza who shot him. Naruto became genuinely concerned when Itachi told him the trouble Haku had gotten himself into.

"Is it true you gave Sasuke a copy of Naruto's interrogation?" Itachi asked. Itachi heard Obito and Danzo speaking in hushed voices. Fugaku had been summoning Sasuke during Itachi's extended absences. It wasn't enough that Itachi's hands were stained with blood he wanted Sasuke's hands dirtied too. Keeping it in the family. 

"Yes. I wanted Sasuke to sever the sick fascination he has with him. No son of mine is going to be a faggot," Fugaku answered bluntly and took another swig of whiskey.

"What are you saying…" Itachi asked. For being a 'true genius' there was so much Itachi was unaware of. Especially when it came to his younger brother.

"Uzumaki gave Sasuke syphilis, and Sasuke is still obsessed with him. It's fucking sickening, it's fucking disgusting, and pathetic. Ever since he was a kid he has been obsessed with him. I won't stand for it anymore. I gave Sasuke the taped interrogation so he can see just how disgusting Uzumaki is. I'd show him the video if I thought he'd be swayed, but I think it would carry the opposite effect."

Itachi thought back to Sasuke growing up as a grave and detached child. Sasuke was always in Itachi's shadow, always an afterthought to their parents, and adapted to his surroundings. Sasuke was always more vulnerable than Itachi. Much like Itachi, he was distant from the other children. Sasuke looked down at his classmates, and thought of them as less than. He didn't see them as equals, and therefore didn't treat them as equals. They were undeserving of his attention and he didn't want to play with any of them. Except for Uzumaki Naruto.

When Sasuke became friends with Naruto his demeanor began to soften and his personality began to change. He began showing different emotions, and began to act like a typical child. Just like Itachi when he was around Shisui. Itachi witnessed the profound change when Sasuke was eight years old and was being praised for intervening on an attempted kidnapping of his female classmate. Itachi walked into Sasuke's room to congratulate him only to find Sasuke severely depressed and agitated.

' _What do you want?_ ' Sasuke growled as Itachi entered his room. Sasuke was sitting at his desk and pouting. He was being surly and petulant. The complete opposite of how Itachi expected him to be acting given the situation. Sasuke was tooted as a hero, and publicly announced as one. He should be elated and proud. 

' _I wanted to congratulate you...what you did- _'__

__' _I didn't do anything! It was Naruto. He saved her._ '_ _

__' _You were still there. You care about, and helped, your classmate._ '_ _

__' _I didn't care about her. I only acted because I didn't want that man to hurt Naruto. He's always doing these reckless things and he almost got seriously hurt! He's just stupid, and he makes me mad! I hate him._ '_ _

__Sasuke's eyes watered up. He violently rubbed them until they became bloodshot. Itachi witnessed his brother's heart changing. Sasuke had began to care about another person. In that moment Itachi thought that Uzumaki Naruto was the best thing to happen to Sasuke, and he silently entrusted Sasuke to Naruto's care. He didn't want Sasuke to walk down the same path that Itachi was following. A path that Fugaku was determined to drag Sasuke down. Itachi revealed the secrets Fugaku tried to hide from his sons._ _

__"Godaime. Shimura Danzo, already informed me he was the one who gave the executive order for Haku to seek out and groom Naruto...and that this was agreed upon by you."_ _

__Fugaku poured another glass of whiskey. His fingers tightened around the bottle as Itachi spoke. His jaw clenched and his muscles flexed. Fugaku looked up and held Itachi's gaze._ _

__"What are you trying to say, Itachi?" Fugaku's voice was low and menacing. There was a depravity in his voice. Of moral corruption. Itachi stared back, his resolve strong and unwavering. Fugaku sought absolute power. Itachi felt it._ _

__"The one who made Naruto who he is now is you, father. You and Shimura conspired with Zabuza to seek out, and pimp Uzumaki Naruto out. You couldn't publicly attack Minato, and his record was clean there was nothing to blackmail him with...the only other option was to go after his son. And what an easy target. The affection starved son who was kept alone and at arms reach by his father."_ _

__Fugaku began to laugh. His laugh was devoid of any happiness, and instead filled with lunacy. The laugh that revealed he was found out, but also that he didn't care. There was no morality. Just depravity. As if a blood moon was behind him. A great and terrible day was impending. Fugaku released the whiskey bottle and leaned back in his chair. The laughter continued and echoed around the room. It was unnerving and a chill went down Itachi's spine and his stomach flipped. He remained still and observant._ _

__"And your point, Itachi? I raised you better than to make astute observations without a purpose."_ _

__"How will Sasuke respond if he finds out the one who gave the executive order to decimate and force Naruto into prostitution was you, father...or how would the citizens of Konoha react if they found out?"_ _

__"Are you threatening me, Itachi?"_ _

__"I will assist you in maintaining your position as Hokage. But I will not needlessly kill just because you give the order. Otherwise this will be no different than a fascist government, and I will not allow a fascist leader to rule Konoha. I want you to leave Sasuke alone. I want a different future for him. One where you don't sully his hands."_ _

__Fugaku took Itachi's words into consideration. Itachi was unaware of Sasuke securing classified documents that lead to the death of D.A Mitarashi Anko. Sasuke's hands had already been sullied since the age of 13. Itachi wouldn't publicly expose anything that would damage the Uchiha. It was better to agree with him than carry on in this argument. He smirked and gave his response. It was all lip service._ _

__"Fine. You're dismissed."_ _

__Itachi bowed, turned, and left the private room. At the coat check the hostess returned Itachi's jacket. Sasuke entered the restaurant, and spotted him instantly._ _

__"Itachi...where have you been?" Sasuke demanded._ _

__There wasn't any gentleness or care on Sasuke's behalf when they interacted. It was always callous. Itachi stared at Sasuke. He had always kept his brother at arms length. Despite the inability to show it he loved his brother. Itachi searched Sasuke's face. It was softer and calmer compared to the last time he saw him. He felt relief._ _

__"I was disobeying father," Itachi answered truthfully. Fugaku was not going to force him to kill Shisui._ _

__"You're becoming unreliable," Sasuke growled as he folded his arms and glared at his older brother. Sasuke was clearly telling Itachi that because of his unpredictability and sudden disappearances resulted in Sasuke being summoned more frequently by their father._ _

__"How is school?" Itachi tried to change the topic._ _

__"Fine."_ _

__"How are things going with Sakura?"_ _

__Itachi really wanted to ask Sasuke about his relationship with Naruto. About the obvious sexual relationship that resulted in Sasuke contracting syphilis. He didn't know how to go about asking. It must have been unbearable for Sasuke finding out what Naruto was doing. Itachi knew Sasuke had loved Naruto ever since they were children, but he didn't realize that the platonic love turned romantic as he aged. Itachi wanted to know what Sasuke's relationship with Naruto was now, and if their father had succeeded in tearing them apart. Just like their father succeeded in tearing Shisui and Itachi apart._ _

__"What is your relationship with Naruto?" Sasuke demanded._ _

__Itachi blinked. Sasuke was the first to bring Naruto's name up. There was a fierceness in Sasuke's eyes, and Itachi realized Sasuke knew more about his relationship with Naruto and Shisui. Naruto must have told him. Itachi swallowed but before he could answer he was interrupted by Sasuke._ _

__"Naruto told me he was going to meet you at the Twin Leaves Hotel."_ _

__"You're still friends with Naruto?" Itachi asked._ _

__"Wh-what? I mean we're classmates. And I ran into him…obviously!" Sasuke's face flushed. He was still friends with Naruto. Fugaku wasn't as box clever as he thought. Itachi nodded his head._ _

__"What happened to Uzumaki Naruto was not his fault. Don't let father interfere with your relationship with him. You and Naruto have been friends since childhood, and it'd be a shame if that stopped. I know how much Naruto cares about you."_ _

__"Shut up! Don't act like you know who Naruto is. And stay away from him! I don't want you anywhere near him! He's doing really good and I don't want you fucking it up!"_ _

__Without taking off his jacket Sasuke stormed passed Itachi, but he reached out and grabbed Sasuke's arm._ _

__"Naruto is being backed into another corner...that boy has a cursed fate. I met with him last night."_ _

__"And what did you meet with him about?!"_ _

__"I need him to get in touch with Yuki Haku. The police need to question Haku on classified information regarding Shimura Danzo."_ _

__Itachi released his hold on his brother. Sasuke turned to look at Itachi his eyebows furrowed together. It was obvious Sasuke still cared deeply for Uzumaki Naruto, and Itachi was relieved that Fugaku wasn't able to sever their bond so easily. Without another word Sasuke pulled away from Itachi and towards the private room where Fugaku awaited. In that moment Itachi became envious of Sasuke who possessed a stronger will than Itachi. He also pondered on just how long Sasuke was able to withstand their father's resolution. Itachi hoped to give Sasuke a reprieve at least for a little while._ _

____

*****

Naruto collapsed onto Sasuke's desk chair as Sasuke closed the bedroom door. Cypress Hall was quiet. The majority of the students had already returned home for winter break. Sasuke decided to return home Christmas Eve, and Naruto was under orders to remain at the academy until his father summoned him.

Naruto looked out the window, the curtains were opened and blinds pulled up. Sasuke had a view of the lake from his tenth floor dormitory. Naruto then saw the familiar coloring of Ichiraku's Ramen Takeout Menu sticking out from a stack of notebooks and textbooks on the desk and he pulled it out.

"Alright! Want anything, S'ske? I'm going to order some ramen!"

"No. You...don't go through my stuff!"

Naruto pulled out his mobile phone and began dialing the restaurant ignoring Sasuke's look of annoyance and eye roll. Sasuke sat on his bed as Naruto ordered takeout. 

"The miso chashu pork ramen with extra pork please!" Naruto ordered hyperactively. A smile spreading from ear to ear as he confirmed the address and name. Naruto ended the call and dropped his cell phone on the desk turning to look at Sasuke.

"So...what did you want to talk about? If it's about me transferring schools I know nothing about that. 'Sides, I can't leave Konoha. I'm still on probation."

"It's about Haku."

"Haku?! Why are you bringing up his name?" Naruto asked his voice filling with panic. 

Sasuke stared accusingly at Naruto. Itachi was right. Naruto was being backed into a corner again...and once again it involved Haku.

"Itachi told me."

"What exactly did he tell you?"

"The police want to question Haku on manners concerning Shimura Danzo."

Naruto snorted and positioned his body so that he was straddling the back of Sasuke's chair. Naruto wondered if the questions were going to be before or after Haku was killed, or maybe the questions came during torture to extract the information, before they put a bullet between his eyes. The Uchiha police were corrupt. Sasuke raised his eyebrows at Naruto's response.

"Why are you bringing this up...what do you want from me?" Naruto asked propping his head up with his hand as his elbow rested against the back of the chair.

"You're the one who wanted to be friends! You're always getting yourself into dangerous situations. So let me help you this time around, usuratonkachi!"

Naruto was speechless and his body went erect at Sasuke's words. He felt his cheeks become warm as blood rushed to the surface. Butterfly wings brushed the inside of his stomach and he felt nauseous. Naruto combed his fingers through his blonde hair while his eyes shifted from side to side. Lying to Sasuke about what was happening only became disastrous. Naruto decided to tell the truth this time around. 

"Haku stole something from Danzo...and if he doesn't return it...he's going to be killed. Itachi wanted me to reach out to Haku to get back the stolen documents before Danzo finds Haku."

"Do you know where Haku is?"

"Of course not. I haven't seen him in...months."

"Then how does Itachi expect you to contact Haku?"

Naruto remained silent, and avoided Sasuke's eyes, choosing instead to stare at the nail beds on his fingers.

"Oh I see. It's because you do know how to get in contact with Haku?"

"The Akatsuki...I'm meeting them tonight to see if they have any information on Haku's whereabouts."

"Where are you meeting them?"

"At a...uh...at a strip club..."

"NARUTO! For Christsakes! You really are the number one most idiotic, half-wit, stupidly incompetent imbecile who has ever existed...ever!"

Naruto held up both hands in mercy, "I wasn't going alone. Shisui is going with me!"

"SHISUI?! And have him make you do something perverted in return? No way! I'm going with you tonight." Sasuke yelled and Naruto winced. 

"Wait...you don't mean..."

"I'm going with you tonight Naruto. I told you already you need to stay here to make amends, and how can you if you keep getting yourself into these messes!"

"It's not uh...just any strip club...it's uh...It's a gay bar...It's a gay strip club."

Sasuke paused and blinked. He ran a hand through his hair and rolled his eyes, "Of-fucking-course it is."

*****

Naruto and Sasuke stood outside the front entrance of the Guys and Dolls strip club. Naruto laughed nervously as Sasuke read the neon sign. Sasuke looked at the outline of a pair of dice under the strip club name one with the number three, and the other dice with the number four. Lucky sevens. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto who shrugged and flashed a smile that seemed to say ' _what are you going to do?_ '

"Ah! You came! Ah...if it isn't the Hokage's son. Tell me how are you doing, Sasuke?" 

Shisui called from behind and Naruto and Sasuke turned around. Shisui looked from Naruto to Sasuke and then looked up at the flashing neon sign. 

"And you're at a gay strip club? I didn't know you swung that way. You really do learn something new every day."

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled stuffing his hands into his coat pockets.

"Aren't you being a little too promiscuous, feral child? Bringing your new boyfriend to meet your old boyfriend?" Shisui asked turning his attention to Naruto who scowled back. It was the same look he always gave Shisui. One of disgust and hatred. 

"Ah...don't stare at me like that...we're on the same team!"

"Let's just get this over with..." Naruto exhaled. He pivoted around and pushed the front door open.

The thick bouncer covered in thick black hair allowed them entrance after getting confirmation through the bluetooth that was fastened around his ear. The club was crowded on Saturday nights. There were flashing lights. The music was pulsating. It smelled of semen and alcohol and perfume and mistakes. Naruto lead the way maneuvering through the main room with ease. He had been here before. That much was clear. 

Sasuke looked at the patrons all around him. Some were dressed provocatively. In nothing but tight hot pants and suspenders. Some were dressed in lavish dresses with painted up faces. Others were in regular street clothes, and finally there were those dressed in expensive business suites. People from all socioeconomic classes gathered in the club that was a mix between a strip club, and a dance club. Sasuke looked to the three separate stages and his eyes looked to one young man dressed in a thong, his muscular body gleamed with hot oil as he moved his body to the beat of the music.

Sasuke felt his cheeks flush as he tore his eyes away from the man. It was then when he caught Shisui watching with with a smirk. He felt even more embarrassed that he was caught staring for so long.

"We're underage...we shouldn't even be here! You say one goddamn word and I swear!" Sasuke growled as he grabbed Shisui's arm and pulled him close.

"Well why are you here, Sasuke?"

"Because I don't want you making Naruto do anything perverted and illegal again you piece of shit!"

"You're so in love with him and you don't even know it!" Shisui whispered into his ear.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Sasuke yelled. It caused Naruto to turn around. Naruto flashed a smile at the patrons around him, his eyes shifted around to see the unwanted attention being drawn to the trio, and he laughed it off as if to say ' _Boys, am I right?_ ' The patrons looked away and laughed. 

"Sasuke...stop it! We're trying not to stand out," Naruto whispered. He grabbed hold of Sasuke's wrist, and pulled him away from Shisui. Naruto appeared so unaffected inside the strip club it rattled Sasuke. Then again Naruto had been more comfortable with his sexuality since the beginning. 

The office door swung open and Deidara appeared. His blonde hair was curled into ringlets and pinned in an extravagant updo. He was wearing a strapless sequin dress that flowed to the floor, a slit riding up his left thigh, and a pair of black silk gloves that extended to the middle of his biceps.

"Naruto, baby doll! You came!" Deidara gushed as he pulled Naruto close to him, and kissed his cheeks in greeting. Naruto let go of Sasuke's wrist and laughed nervously. 

Naruto's cheeks flushed the color of a squashed tomato, "Uh...yeah..."

"What's this...whose this?" Deidara asked as he turned his attention to Sasuke. 

"That bone structure...those eyes...the color of your hair...another Uchiha at my door."

Deidara's eyes scanned from Sasuke to Shisui before resting back on Naruto, "You seem to surround yourself with nothing but Uchihas. First it was Itachi, then Shisui, and now...who are you?" 

Deidara looked directly at Sasuke wanting him to introduce himself. Deidara didn't pay attention to politics or watch anything that wasn't the Bravo channel. He didn't recognize Sasuke as being Fugaku's son. 

"He's not important," Naruto answered. Naruto didn't want Deidara to know it was Sasuke, especially didn't want the rumor mill to run on Sasuke being spotted inside a gay strip club. 

"And...Shisui. There is somebody who is requesting your presence in the employee lounge. Don't worry...I'll keep the boys safe here," Deidara spoke turning his attention to the older Uchiha.

*****

Sasuke and Naruto were left alone inside Deidara's office. He told them to wait here while he made some announcements to the club's patrons. Sasuke moved to sit on the zebra stripped couch but Naruto held out his hand, "You don't want to sit there!"

A look of disgust formed on Sasuke's face and he rolled his eyes and moved to lean up against the wall. Sasuke looked at the gold and glass liquor cart, and then to the drug paraphernalia on the ivory coffee table. There were bags of white powder, a glass oval mirror, and a razor. There were also orange prescription bottles of smiley-faced tabs. Naruto swallowed as his eyes fell to the Callisto tabs. He felt his skin itch. 

"How many times have you been here?" Sasuke asked. He watched Naruto stare at the drug paraphernalia on the coffee table.

"Why does it matter...it's not like I go here now..."

"Did you work here or something? You're underage..."

"I did a lot of things I wasn't supposed to do while being underage."

Naruto was leaning against the wall opposite of Sasuke. His mood was sour and he was one edge. The longer he was in the room with the Callisto the weaker his resolve became. There was a large analog clock above the zebra stripped couch and it loudly ticked with each passing second. He wondered what it would be like to try just one hit of Callisto. Naruto looked up to see Sasuke watching him closely, and he felt guilt wash over him.

"Tell me what you did here."

"No! That's embarrassing," Naruto argued. He folded his arms across his chest. Naruto looked back at Sasuke who continued to stare at him. It felt like he was under a microscope. He felt raw. Exposed. He wanted Sasuke to feel as uncomfortable as he felt. 

"Does Sakura know you're here right now?"

"What? Of course not...she doesn't need to know."

"You should tell her...she's your girlfriend."

"Why are you even bringing her up anyways?"

"Because she's your girlfriend...and you shouldn't even be in a place like this when you have a girlfriend."

"But it was okay for you to be here?"

"Well...that was different...because I wasn't in my right mind, and I wasn't dating anyone... and _you_ , _you_ are."

"I'm here because I want to make sure you don't do anything stupid. You're the one who wanted us to be friends, and this is what friends do to make sure the other stays on the right path!"

Naruto's eyes were clear and bright. Those words melted Naruto and made him into nothing more than a puddle. He smiled warmly at Sasuke. He no longer felt weak and his desire to use Callisto vanished. The entire semester he had been sober. Naruto's mood was stabilized, and he was returning to his old self. The light and warmth returned. The sun was behind Naruto but it paled in comparison. Sasuke was relieved. Naruto was in front of him. Naruto was in front of him and he was smiling at Sasuke. That smile that was for Sasuke and Sasuke alone. He didn't know what his body was doing...it was moving on it's own. He just wanted to touch Naruto, to hold Naruto, and never let go.

Sasuke grabbed hold of Naruto and wrapped his arms around him in an embrace. Naruto's eyes widened as he felt the heat from Sasuke's body transfer into him.

"So...you better not go and leave me again," Sasuke continued as he held onto Naruto.

"Okay," Naruto answered automatically.

Suddenly the door was thrown open and crashed against the wall with a banging noise. It caused Naruto and Sasuke to jump and separate. They turned around to see Kisame entering the room and slamming the door shut behind him. Naruto's stomach dropped twenty floors. A slimy smile spread Kisame's lips. He was a shark swimming around it's prey ready to rip apart them limb from limb. The expression of wanting the shark tank to turn red with fresh blood on his features as he spoke malevolently. 

"Well...well...well if it isn't my favorite prep school brat coming to pay me a visit! I heard you were asking on the whereabouts of Haku. Come now Naruto...you know information isn't free even if you though going to Deidara would somehow circumvent going through me. Stupid brat. So tell me what are you willing to do for the information?"


	43. Should I Stay or Should I Go

# Should I Stay or Should I Go 

 

“Kisame,” Naruto greeted plainly and unconsciously stepped away from Sasuke. 

The memories came back in film stills. Snapshots of memories from when Naruto escaped the psychiatric hospital flashed through his brain one by one. The first snapshot was Naruto meeting Kisame in the back alley of the consignment shop. 

Naruto was beyond desperation, and entered madness. He wanted reentry into the wonderland of Callisto and the only way was to enter into sickening psychosis. Only madmen may enter. He entered the fevered world of sexuality, drugs, and violence once more. It was something Naruto had to do in order to prevent the video from being released to the public. 

“Oh? What’s with this greeting? Last time you greeted me warmly while on your knees,” Kisame sneered. As the slimy smile grew on Kisame’s thin blue lips a look of disgust took over Naruto’s features. Sasuke’s eyes turned into slits of black and his eyebrows furrowed together. He hated this man. Another bad adult appeared. 

“Well...circumstances have changed…” Naruto muttered coldly and shrugged his shoulders.

He wanted to avoid Kisame for this very reason. It was painfully apparent Deidara didn’t know the whereabouts of Haku, and in the end only Kisame was left. Maybe Deidara thought it kind, charitable even, to arrange a meeting here on neutral ground. Naruto would have rather passed a message through Deidara than through Kisame. 

“Haven’t I been nothing but helpful to you, prep school brat? And you’re going to give me this shit attitude? Are you looking down at me?” Kisame barked. He didn’t like the cold attitude Naruto was showing. 

“No! No! No! Of course not, Kisame!” Naruto spoke his whole demeanor changing. His voice apologetic and humbling; hands raised in a sign of surrender and truce. Sasuke shot Naruto a bewildered look. 

“Then greet me properly! Like you did before.” Kisame demanded. Naruto paled and felt his body temperature increase. His eyes flickered back to the Callisto tabs on the ivory coffee table. He found it difficult to breathe. The air in the room was becoming thin. 

“No! He’s not doing anything for you! If it’s money you want in exchange for Haku’s whereabouts fine, but nothing else is happening. Take those terms or we’re leaving.” 

Sasuke necessitated and stepped in front of Naruto blocking him from Kisame’s gaze. All Naruto saw in front of him was Sasuke. If he reached out he could touch his back. Another snapshot flashed through Naruto’s mind. One where Kisame led him to the Guys and Dolls strip club and introduced him to Deidara. In order to earn his keep Naruto had to work. It was a hot and blistering at the end of August and it carried through into early September. 

“I thought you looked familiar...you’re Itachi’s bratty younger brother. You Uchiha think you’re so smug...prep school brats all the same. Throwing money at things. I want him to know his place...on his knees and pleasuring me!” 

“Except these terms or we’re leaving!” Sasuke repeated.

“Ah...I see...you don’t know about the video,” Kisame spoke. 

He watched the younger Uchiha with curiosity. He remembered him as the boy who followed Naruto into the drug deal behind the consignment shop. The disapproving look Sasuke had as he called out Naruto’s name. 

“How do you know about that?!” Naruto shrieked. He jumped in front of Sasuke and began walking towards Kisame. 

“Because I know where Haku is, stupid brat. And I’d tell you...but it would have to be a private conversation with just you and me.”

“No!” 

Sasuke interfered and grabbed hold of Naruto’s hand jerking him back. Sasuke refused to let go. He glanced at Naruto’s face. It was drained of all color. His blue eyes vacant. His mouth agape. His bottom lip trembling. The only video Sasuke knew was of the interrogation, and it was a video he refused to release to the student body, and a video he refused to watch.

“Haku wants to meet you...but he’s currently indisposed at the moment so he sent me.” 

“Tell Haku to return the documents! He’s in danger if he’s caught he’s going--” Naruto spoke in a panicked frenzy. 

“To die? Yeah. Haku is aware. He doesn’t care. He wants to see you one last time. But he wants to meet you alone.”

Naruto’s eyes widened as he looked at the smug expression Kisame wore. It was the look of a predator taunting and playing with it’s prey. The last conversation he had with Haku replayed in his mind. Haku spoke the words from behind a mask. The neverending smiling mask. The smile that was devoid of any warmth, devoid of any happiness, and devoid of any life. Haku was dead inside. His heart a black hole. A walking corpse. 

'I'm debating...'

'Debating what?'

'If I'm going to kill myself...or if I'm going to kill you. There is nothing left for me to live for anymore. You killed my one and only purpose in this world, Uzumaki Naruto. So tell me what am I supposed to do now?'

Before Naruto could respond they were interrupted. Obito dragged Naruto out of the bathroom. Haku wanted to meet with Naruto one last time. He was going to do something drastic and it was going to send shockwaves throughout Konoha. Naruto felt it deep in his bones. Haku took something very important. Something so important there was a kill order enacted. Naruto wanted to see Haku. He wanted to stop Haku. Above anything else he wanted to save Haku. 

“When?! Where?! I’ll be there!” Naruto spoke desperately.

Kisame held out a burner phone. Something that would be untraceable. Kisame tossed it to Naruto.

“He’ll contact you on this...he knows your cell phone is already tapped.” 

Naruto reached out to catch it but Sasuke shoved him backwards and caught the burner phone. The smirk didn’t leave Kisame’s face and he shrugged. It didn’t bother him whoever caught the burner phone. The whole thing was unnerving. It didn’t add up. Kisame willingly working with Haku. Naruto wasn’t thinking clearly. He forgot to ask why...why was Kisame working with Haku? 

“Give it back!” Naruto demanded. His voice was high strung and frantic. 

“You should have come alone, stupid brat. Haku wanted to see you one last time...but if there is interference he won’t. Simple as that. So long. Maybe next time we meet you’ll have better manners,” Kisame spoke his farewells and left the room slamming the door behind him.

“What good will come of you getting this phone? Didn’t you hear? Are you stupid? Haku already knows what he did and the repercussions of it...and he’s just going to drag you into his mess all over again!”

“Sasuke please! Give it back!” Naruto shrieked. 

“No! Enough is enough, Naruto! What happens to Haku isn’t your fault!”

“YES IT IS...BECAUSE I KILLED ZABUZA!” 

Naruto covered his face with both hands and screamed. The images flooded his sight and all senses were saturated with the memory. Naruto felt Zabuza’s erect cock filling his mouth. It tasted salty and musky. His eyes focused on Zabuza’s face. He smelled blood and semen. The moment his eyes closed and his hand loosened around the gun was when Naruto reached for the gun. It was already cocked and loaded. Naruto pulled away and Zabuza’s cock left Naruto’s mouth and Zabuza realizing what was happening opened his eyes. He reached for Naruto but it was too late. Naruto pulled the trigger and the bullet ripped through Zabuza’s eye socket and his brain splattered against the white wall. He smelled gunpowder and felt Zabuza’s corpse fall on top of him. 

“IT WASN’T YOUR FAULT! Okay! It wasn’t your fault...you had to Naruto...you had to do it to live...and I’m glad you did because I want you to live!” 

“I killed Haku’s most precious person…! I...” Naruto began to hyperventilate. He was choking and gagging trying to force oxygen into his lungs. 

“Well what about you Naruto? You’re my most precious person! You’re my best friend! I can’t live in a world without okay?!”

Sasuke pulled Naruto into a hug. The burner phone continued to be wrapped securely in his hand. He wasn’t going to give it to Naruto. He wanted Naruto to calm down, and come back to his senses. Sasuke held on tightly, suppressing him, and quelling the anxiety that erupted within him. The words spilled easily out of Sasuke’s mouth. He wanted to say more but was too afraid. He didn’t want to cross any boundaries. 

They had to continue with their platonic relationship. Intimate and affectionate. But nothing romantic...and nothing sexual. Strictly keeping it friendly.

*****

“Okay-okay! How about this. You give me the phone, and I’ll talk to Haku and if we meet up in person. I tell you and we go together?”

Naruto began to bargain as they walked side by side up the asphalt path to Cypress Hall. Naruto was animated. The light returned to his eyes and his energy levels were restored. Sasuke’s hands were stuffed in his pocket. A hand still fastened around the burner phone. He shook his head no.

“I refuse.”

“Okay...then...let me stay with you. If Haku calls let me talk with him. I won’t meet up with him...but I need to speak to him.”

Sasuke stopped walking and stared at Naruto comprehending what he was saying. He shook his head and spoke with a smile as he began walking again. 

“Let you stay with me? Ha. You’re a lousy roommate. You’re stupid, unorganized, and loud. I refuse!” 

“Just for a couple nights...common’ it’s winter break, just until Haku calls. I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise!”

They walked closer to Cypress Hall. Sasuke was smiling and Naruto was laughing. A familiar cotton-candy haired girl was sitting on the steps. Waiting impatiently. She leapt up as soon as she saw Sasuke approaching, and called out his name, waving her hand excitedly. 

“SASUKE!” 

Sasuke and Naruto turned their attention to Sakura. She was standing in the middle of the steps that lead to Cypress Hall. Her eyes widened at the sight of Sasuke and Naruto together. Sasuke was smiling and walking alongside Naruto. Her hand dropped to her side. It wasn't fair. Why was Sasuke smiling when he walked besides Naruto? He never smiled when he was with her. It wasn’t fair! She was in disbelief. 

She had been calling and texting him all night and there was no response. She was so worried she came to Cypress Hall and brought up her concerns to Iruka. He told Sakura to wait and see if he shows up for curfew before she worried herself sick. Sasuke was ignoring her because he was with Naruto. She felt a deep seeded rage form in the pit of her stomach. 

“Hi...Sakura…” Sasuke greeted as he stopped at the base of the stone steps. The smile was gone. He stared at her with his deadpan expression. 

“Where were you? I was calling you all night. I was worried.”

“I can see you’re gunna to be busy tonight so how about you just give me the phone and I’ll be on my way,” Naruto interrupted and held out his hand to Sasuke. Hoping the sudden distraction of Sakura would cause Sasuke to hand the phone over. It didn’t work. Sasuke turned his attention to the blonde, ignoring Sakura, and slapped his hand away. 

“No! Go to bed, usuratonkachi!” Sasuke demanded. 

Sakura raised her eyebrows. It was the first time in a long time she heard Sasuke call Naruto by that name. It only fueled the malice. He said he wasn’t going to see Naruto anymore. The teacher assigned different partners. There wasn’t a reason to meet with Naruto anymore...so why...Why?! 

Naruto flashed a sheepish smile, shrugged his shoulders, and made his way into the dormitories. As he passed Sakura he greeted her warmly before disappearing inside, “It’s good to see you, Sakura. Goodnight.” 

“Why?! Why are you spending Saturday night with him? You’re dating me! You’re supposed to spend Saturday nights with me!” Sakura demanded as the door closed and Naruto was finally gone. 

“Are you telling me who I can and can’t spend time with?” Sasuke asked as he glared up at Sakura. 

“No! These are your words...you said you didn’t want to be friends with him anymore. You said you weren’t going to spend time with him anymore! So why are you lying?” 

“He’s my friend, Sakura. I can’t turn my back on him. He’s been my best friend since we were five years old….and nothing will change that.” 

“He isn’t your friend! These were your words! You’re driving me crazy, Sasuke!”

“We made up. It’s what friends do. Just make up with Naruto and things will go back to normal. I’m sure you will feel better. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. Let’s talk tomorrow. I have something important I want to talk with you about. Goodnight.”

Sasuke moved passed Sakura, and entered Cypress Hall. She stood rooted in place, staring forward, and unable to say anything to stop him...unable to say anything to make him stay by her side. She didn’t know how Naruto did it. It wasn’t fair. She felt tears blur her vision and pour down in an endless stream. She lowered her head and began to sob. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed on the steps alone. She wasn’t able to make Sasuke love her and it was ripping apart her sanity. 

Sasuke didn’t feel anything but ambivalence towards Sakura. She was familiar because she was there since kindergarten. Tolerable because she was smart and mature. She wasn’t flashy or loud. He didn’t feel any physical attractiveness, and when they kissed it felt as if he was kissing a dead, rotting, fish. It churned his stomach and made him nauseous. 

He thought if he dated her, he would begin to feel those feelings, he was supposed to feel. Of needing her, wanting her, of missing her when she wasn’t around. He didn’t. He didn’t even feel happiness. He thought if he dated her long enough he would feel for Sakura...what he felt for Naruto. It didn’t happen not even a little bit. Because he didn’t love Sakura. 

He knew he had to breakup with her tomorrow.

*****

Sasuke laid in bed. The light coming from his phone illuminated his face. He was about to send Naruto a text message when his phone vibrated. It was Naruto.

‘Do you still have the phone?’ 

Sasuke wanted to throw the phone away, but had a feeling that although Naruto may have acted upset in the beginning, he would go back later to retrieve the phone. In order to ensure the phone stayed out of Naruto’s hands was to keep it within his possession. He placed the phone in the top drawer of his desk. 

‘Yes.’

‘Are you going to let me know if Haku contacts me?’ 

‘Maybe.’

‘Sasuke!’ 

Sasuke smiled. He could hear Naruto’s voice and could see the expression he was making as if he was sitting besides him. 

‘Go to bed, usuratonkachi. You better not do anything stupid!’ 

Naruto didn’t respond. He was probably pouting. Sasuke rolled to his side and began drifting off to sleep. He didn’t know how much time had passed but there was a knock at the door. It was the feeling of falling and Sasuke sat up in a panic. The knocking continued. He opened the door to see Naruto standing there. Sasuke’s heart skipped a beat and his breathing momentarily stopped. 

“I couldn’t sleep,” Naruto answered as Sasuke appeared. Sasuke yawned and pushed the door open to allow Naruto entrance into the room. 

“I would have told you if he contacted you.”

“Liar.”

“Well...maybe.”

*****

Naruto and Sasuke laid side by side on Sasuke’s twin sized bed. There was a full moon out and it bathed the room in hues of blue light. Naruto murmured he didn’t need a nightlight. The nightmares were few and far in between. Sasuke breathed normally. He recalled the memory when he angrily bagged up his old comforter and sheets, because all he could smell was Naruto. Sasuke purchased new bedding because he wanted to erase all traces of Naruto’s existence, and yet here the blonde was laying beside him. The third time he was in Sasuke's room.

“Naruto…”

“Hmm?”

“I want you to tell me what happened. How it happened...how you and Haku. I want you to tell me everything. I want to know...to understand...please...”

Sasuke could feel Naruto shifting besides him, and then he felt Naruto swing his legs over the side of the bed and leave. He pushed himself up and was ready to ask where he was going when he saw Naruto sit down on the desk chair. Sasuke felt himself relax. Naruto sat sideways in the chair one hand resting on the back of the chair, and the other resting on the desk. He needed to feel something solid beneath him while he spoke. Sasuke didn’t realize it was a grounding technique that Naruto learned in his therapy sessions with Kurenai. 

“Did...did you see a video of me?” Naruto asked shakily. 

There it was again. The mentioning of a video. Sasuke assumed it was the interrogation video. The same video Kisame brought up in conversation. Only...thinking of it now. If it was a video of Naruto’s interrogation why did Haku have such vested interest in it? Unless Naruto’s testimony focused around Haku. Sasuke wondered if the video Naruto mentioned was the interrogation video...or another video. 

“No. I didn’t,” Sasuke answered truthfully. 

He was in possession of the interrogation video but only watched the first few seconds. Naruto appeared to relax. Sasuke remained upright in bed his eyes transfixed on Naruto. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw Naruto clearly bathed in the blue light of the moon. 

“I’ll tell you...but I won’t go into detail...so don’t ask. Okay?”

“Mhm.” 

Naruto began at the beginning. During his ninth grade year when he was feeling the pressure of excelling at everything because he had to live up to the expectations of being the Yondaime’s son. The good grades, the star athlete, needing to be popular, and keep up appearances alongside his father when summoned. He was introduced to adderall. It was the answer to everything and it was inside an orange capsule. It was his favorite color. Certainly it was a godsend. 

He told Sasuke how he was introduced to Haku long before the start of their tenth grade year. They had met twice...and the third meeting was solidified with a blowjob in the boy’s locker room. Haku had the ability to get adderall. It was perfect. Naruto liked-liked Haku...a lot, and then he was introduced to Callisto. It was an awful combination that sent him down the path of self-destruction. 

The first time was the night of the Konoha State Dinner with Suna. It was a trap set up especially for him, and he walked into it blindly. Naruto clarified his first sexual experience was with Haku. However the night of the Konoha State Dinner was the first time he engaged in sexual activities in exchange for money and Callisto. Naruto quickly explained how Zabuza held a gun up to him and pulled the trigger. There wasn’t any other option for Naruto. It was also the first time he tried cocaine. It wasn’t for him. It was okay...but it was nowhere near Callisto’s level. 

He explained how every molecule craved Callisto and he became frighteningly addicted. So much when he went to the ATM to withdraw money and was unable to his thought turned to Haku and the Twin Leaves Hotel. He explained how he was upset with his father, and explained it started off as a rebellion. His father controlled every aspect of his life and he was forced to go here, and go there, everywhere at his beck and call. When he was cut off he had nowhere else to turn to. He ended up in Zabuza’s hands...who controlled everything he did inside room 3707. 

Shisui entered the picture. He was assigned to keep tabs on Naruto when he missed the Konoha State Dinner and reported his activity to Minato. Only when Shisui found out what Naruto was really doing he used it to further his own agenda and began blackmailing Naruto. Shisui’s target was Shimura Danzo and Biwa Juzo. 

Naruto didn’t go into detail. He spoke briefly of his time at The Manor on Valentine’s Day. He let it slip that he met Itachi there, as well as Kisame. He was so high on Callisto that everything was blurry in the room with Biwa Juzo. It ended with Juzo slitting Naruto’s throat with the serrated knife. Haku had saved his life. At least until the emergency dispatchers arrived. Naruto died on the stretcher in the ambulance. They pushed epinephrine and started a blood transfusion. Naruto was shocked back to life. Like jump starting a dead car battery. 

Naruto tried to end things after that night. He ended things with Haku, and broke off all ties. But he couldn’t escape. Juzo had left him a present. Ise Udon’s corpse was left in the fetal position at the library bus stop. Haku had targeted Konohamaru and was forcing him to go to the Twin Leaves Hotel. Shisui forced him to go back with the promise of arresting Biwa Juzo. 

It was another trap that Naruto walked into blindly. Naruto explained that Friday night. There was some dice game they were forced to play, and because Naruto lost he was shot. Juzo had taken Konohamaru into the bedroom, and he knew he was going to do to Konohamaru what he did to Kazamatsuri Moegi, to Ise Udon, and to him. Naruto had no choice but to shoot Zabuza. He called 911...and then locked himself in the bedroom. He found Konohamaru’s naked body. His throat was slashed and blood stained the plush white carpet in a halo around his head. Naruto thought he was dead. He passed out from blood loss, and woke up in the hospital. 

When Naruto was finished he heard a small, indescribable, noise escaping from Sasuke. He turned to see Sasuke was hunched over. His shoulders were trembling. He held a hand to his mouth, and his hair fell over his face hiding his expression.

“Sasuke...are you okay?” Naruto asked as he pushed himself up from the chair and he walked over to Sasuke. 

“Stupid! Don’t ask me if I’m okay!” Sasuke yelled and it startled Naruto. 

He looked up at Naruto and his face was smeared with tears and his eyes bloodshot. It was the first time Naruto saw him crying. Naruto swallowed panic filled him. He didn’t know how to react. 

“I...did cruel things to you...and I said cruel things to you. And this whole time you...” 

Sasuke continued his voice cracking. It hurt. There was a pain in his chest, and it began to slowly take him over. A debilitating pain of grief and guilt that metastasized. He didn’t understand Hinata’s words at the time in the library, but they sunk in and he felt them on every level. Her words echoed inside, and they pierced him like knives being slowly inserted into his body. 

‘Naruto saved Konohamaru's life! That has to count for something. He saved two lives! The man that took me was a child rapist...he was a predator. I don't see any difference to what happened with Naruto! And...and...nobody was there to save Naruto.’

“It’s okay, S’ske. I mean we’re fine now. We’re back to being friends that’s all I care about...” 

“No! I’m the one…I’m the one who needs to apologize. I’m the one who needs to ask you if you’re okay...stupid!”

“I…I’m okay because you’re here with me.”

Sasuke did it all wrong. He wanted to be the one to comfort Naruto but the tables turned. It was Naruto who wrapped his arms around Sasuke and held him close as he continued to sob into Naruto’s chest. He was overwhelmed with such intense emotions it was the only thing he could do. 

They were laying on Sasuke’s bed. Sasuke had apologized to Naruto. He apologized over and over and over again. Naruto held onto him, one hand brushed the back of Sasuke’s head, and the other rubbed Sasuke’s back. It was soothing and comforting. Naruto’s smell, his touch, the warmness of his body. It was all comforting. Sasuke needed this, he wanted this, and when Naruto wasn’t around he felt an ache in his chest. 

Naruto had forgiven him without question. They had fallen asleep in that position. Intertwined with each other. The third time Naruto went to Sasuke’s room and he had managed to crawl back into bed with Sasuke only...Sasuke wouldn’t have allowed Naruto to leave the room regardless. 

*****

It was high noon the next day. 

It was Sunday. What a black day. The sky was dark. There was moisture in the air. The temperatures were in the high forties. It threatened rain. Christmas was in seven days. Downtown Konoha was decorated in lights, and tinsel, and wreaths. It was transformed into a winter wonderland. It looked truly magical. 

Only it didn’t feel that way to Sakura. She stepped out of the taxi in front of The York restaurant. Dark circles darkened her sleep deprived eyes. She was determined. There was a reason why she was avoiding Sasuke’s text messages and phone calls. She knew he wanted to meet with her, and she knew why. She was up all night trying to figure out a way to prevent it, and came to one conclusion. 

She entered the restaurant and was greeted by the hostess. It was a familiar face. The hostess dressed in the same tight, black, dress with her cleavage jumping out the top, in high heels that pushed her ass out. Sakura’s eyes lingered on her cleavage as she bowed. She led Sakura to the private room in the back. The door slid opened and Sakura stepped in. She instantly bowed in greeting. 

“Thank you for meeting me, Godaime!” 

Fugaku was dressed formally in a three piece suite, and his hair was slicked back. He was sitting at the head of the table and bowed his head. He held out his hand and gestured for Sakura to join him. She nervously slid into a seat and turned her attention to Fugaku. He began pouring her a glass of chardonnay. 

“There was something you wanted to speak to me about, Miss. Sakura?”

She nodded her head yes, her face flushed, and cleared her throat.

“It’s about Sasuke...I’m afraid he’s going to break up with me! He started hanging out with Naruto again. And spent all last night with him. I don’t want to lose Sasuke….I love him so much, sir! Please...tell me...what should I do?”


	44. You're Going Down

# You're Going Down 

 

**5:00PM**

Sakura had succumbed to madness. 

She flirted with madness and madness flirted back. The boundaries of love and obsession blurred and she could no longer tell the difference. She wasn’t prepared to lose Sasuke and she avoided him for as long as she could. She fled campus and returned home. Turned her phone off and refused to leave her bedroom. She told herself if she avoided him he couldn’t break up with her. She could only hold out for so long. 

Sakura stood on the front porch and when the door swung opened she turned on her biggest, brightest, smile. The duchenne smile. In hopes of drawing Sasuke in and captivating him. Hoping to mimic the smile that Naruto pulled off so easily. The smile that drew people to him so effortlessly like moths to a light bulb. She wanted to possess that power over Sasuke. 

“Sakura! What are you doing here?” Sasuke growled. He was unaffected. Unamused. And unabashed. His eyes were dark and uncaring and glared straight through her. Making her feel less than. Making her feel unwanted. 

“Merry Christmas Eve!” Sakura gushed and threw her arms up. Ignoring the gloominess and coldness that exuded from Sasuke. 

She wrapped her arms around Sasuke and pressed her body up against his. She felt him become frigid and still against her. He did not reciprocate and immediately shoved her away, before continuing angrily. 

“I’ve been trying to contact you this past week! Why have you been ignoring me?” 

“Sakura! Is that you? Come in it’s freezing out there!” Mikoto spoke as she appeared in the foyer. 

Sakura bowed deeply at the waist. Kept her back flat and straight. She purposely ignored Sasuke’s questions as she properly greeted Mikoto. When she looked up at the older Uchiha she was taken aback. 

Mikoto had gotten thinner. Unhealthily thin. Thirty pounds thinner, and she was already a naturally lean woman. She looked frightening. Her face was gaunt. Eyes sunken in her head. Dark tissue stained the skin beneath her eyes. Her hair was thinner and Sakura could see patches of white scalp from where she was balding. Mikoto looked sick. Her skin was clammy and blotchy. 

Sakura looked at Sasuke wanting an explanation, but Sasuke turned towards his mother. The voice he used with his mother was soft and gentle. 

“She cannot stay here for long, mom. She’s just stopping by briefly! And will be on her way very soon.” 

“Oh she can’t? At least let me prepare tea and a light snack.”

Mikoto turned and moved towards the kitchen. Sakura noticed as she walked she swayed back and forth and her eyes were drawn to her bare feet. 

Sasuke whirled around and grabbed Sakura’s arm, pulled her close, and snapped, “Wait for me in my room. We have to talk, Sakura.”

The voice he used with Sakura was course and sharp. Sasuke was gone, having followed Mikoto into the kitchen. She made her way upstairs and opened the door to his bedroom. She closed the door and inhaled deeply. The smell of Sasuke filled her nostrils, and her lungs. She slid her leather satchel bag off her shoulder and it rested on the desk chair. There she noticed two phones on his desk. A smartphone and besides it a flip-phone. 

She picked up the flip-phone and opened it up. Nothing was programmed. There were no incoming calls and there were no outgoing calls. It was empty of any information. She placed it back on the desk and picked up his smartphone. She watched him input his passcode so many times she committed it to memory. Although he wasn’t clever in his passcode. It was his birthday.

0723

She went to messages and the top of the messages was Uzumaki Naruto. The photo he used as Naruto’s contact was a photo of them together when they were thirteen. They were both in their soccer jerseys. Naruto had his arm around Sasuke’s shoulder and was flashing the peace sign. Naruto’s attention was focused on the camera. His smile was wide and open and pulled the viewer in. Sasuke’s attention was focused entirely on Naruto. A smile pulled the corners of his lips up and crinkled his eyes. Sasuke was smiling because he was next to Naruto...and Naruto was smiling because they had won the championship game.

The photo made Sakura’s blood boil. The deep seeded rage brewed to the surface and burned beneath her skin. 

She began to read the text message conversation and her blood ran cold. Naruto had been sleeping over in Sasuke’s dormitory. Between messages Naruto had kept asking if Sasuke still had ‘the phone’, and with a follow-up question of ‘did he call?’ It was the pronoun game on who ‘he’ was. Naruto wanted this phone, and Sasuke refused to hand it over...and regarding who ‘he’ was the conversation didn’t say. If she gave Naruto this phone would he leave Sasuke alone? She placed the smartphone back on the desk. She concluded he wouldn’t. 

She wasn’t thinking properly. The door opened and Sakura spun around to see Sasuke. 

“Sakura-”

“NO! Please! Don’t say it!” She screamed and shook her head. She hadn’t prepared yet. She didn’t want to hear. She was too preoccupied to ready herself. 

“Sakura...I’m breaking up with you.” 

She shattered. He didn’t sugarcoat it. It wasn’t done in a roundabout way with a gentle landing. There wasn’t any excuses or pretty little dressed up lies. Nothing. Sakura shook her head back and forth violently and kept screaming out ‘no’ repeatedly. Her face turned red with anger. Her hands balled into fists. 

“I won’t let you! If you do...if you do Fugaku will send you away!” Sakura threatened. 

“What did you say?” Sasuke asked astonished. The threat struck him like a bat to the chest. 

“If you break up with me...Fugaku is going to send you away, and you won’t be able to see Naruto again!”

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Sakura, I don’t love you. I see you as a friend and nothing more. You and me will never work! I tried...I tried and I feel nothing! Do you understand? You make me feeling absolutely nothing!” 

“What does he have that I don’t? Why are you so obsessed with him? I can do everything he does...just give me a chance! Just tell me what it is about him and I’ll change! You’ll see I’ll make it so you fall in love with me.” 

“It’s everything...it’s everything about him. I love everything about him! You will never be him! Nobody can!”

“HE DOESN’T LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!” 

“That’s fine! I’m not expecting him to love me back…!”

“I won’t accept it! Sleep with me!”

“What?”

Sakura began to strip. She pulled her peacoat off, and lifted the sweater up and over her head. It was the only thing she hadn’t attempted. She stepped out of her skirt and began pulling her stockings off when Sasuke registered that she was stripping naked and held his hands out.

“Stop it! You’ve lost your fucking mind Sakura!”

“No! You have! Sleep with me right now, Sasuke! Just pretend I’m Naruto...I won’t mind! If you want to do it anally I’ll do it anally!” 

Sakura unhooked the bra and pulled it off. Her B cup breasts instantly began to perk up, her nipples began to harden and stand erect as they hit the cold air of the bedroom. She began walking towards Sasuke. He looked petrified. He looked shocked. His eyes wide and processing the events in slow motion. 

She grabbed him and pressed her naked body to his. She tried kissing him but he pulled away and reached out fumbling with her advances. Her hands went to his jeans and began to struggle with unbuttoning his pants. She thought maybe she’d start things off with a blowjob. 

“Sakura! Stop it!” 

“Sleep with me now Sasuke or I’m going to release that video of Naruto!” Sakura screamed in Sasuke’s face. 

It was on instinct. Sasuke slapped Sakura across the face. Open palmed. His hand collided fiercely with her cheek. The slapping sound echoed across the bedroom. Sakura’s eyes watered up. There was a red outline of Sasuke’s handprint on her face. It was enough of a shock to make her pull back, and Sasuke was fully recovered. 

“Get dressed...and leave, Sakura! NOW!” 

Sasuke was trembling. Sakura knew about the video. A video. Something transpired between Sakura and Fugaku. Just before Sasuke left the room Sakura’s voice stopped him with a shrill threat. Like nails on a chalkboard, it sent chills down his spine. It caused the hair on his flesh to stand on end, and the skin of his teeth to peel back. 

“I’m telling Fugaku...and he’s going to send you away. If you won’t be with me then I won’t allow you to be happy with Naruto. Do you understand?! I won’t let you be happy with anybody but me!” 

Sasuke slammed the door shut behind him, and Sakura collapsed on all fours and began sobbing. She screamed out in anguish. She screamed so loud she felt her vocal cords strain, pull, and become raw. She coughed at the discomfort and continued sobbing. Tears and snot rolling down her ugly face. All she saw was the color of anger. The color red. All she felt was ugliness and complete and total humiliation. She felt purple and felt green and felt pink. She was broken and bitter and bruised. 

After getting dressed she picked up her satchel bag from the desk and her eyes flickered to the flip-phone. Without hesitation she grabbed the phone and stuffed it into her bag. She glanced over her shoulder. It was quiet. There was no movement in the corridor. She didn’t expect Sasuke to return. He was going to hide somewhere in the house until he was sure she was gone. She picked up his smartphone, and began typing a message to Naruto. 

‘Where are you? Let’s meet up.’

‘What? Did he call?’

‘Yes.’ 

‘I’m still downtown christmas shopping. Let’s meet at the cafe?’

‘No. Meet me on campus. In the library.’ 

‘Why go back to campus?’

‘I don’t want us to be disturbed.’

‘Okay! It’ll take me a bit to get back to campus. Let’s meet at 9PM.’

‘See you there.’

**6:15PM**

Sakura made her way quietly to the kitchen. If she was caught she was going to pretend to say goodbye to Mikoto. The lie already poised at the tip of her tongue. The house was still. The kitchen was empty. She couldn’t hear Sasuke nor Mikoto. She tried to visualize where in the house they were. She concluded that Sasuke had taken Mikoto to her bedroom that was located on the first floor in the back of the house. She looked over her shoulder. It was so quiet she could hear a pin drop. 

She reached her hand out and grabbed the handle of the chef’s knife that was in the wooden block. It was a Wusthof Trident Classic. The blade was recently sharpened. The blade was carbon stainless steel. 8 inch blade. The handle was triple riveted for precise control. The blade felt smooth and comfortable in her hand. Sakura caught her reflection in the blade and she looked at the hand print across her face. The scarlet mark. Sasuke’s hatred. She slipped the blade into her satchel bag and left the residence. 

Her skull filled up white noise. Like a dialed television left on. Just empty radio waves filling the growing silence of her skull, and she slipped further and further into madness. Moving only from the reptilian part of her brain.

**7:30PM**

Mikoto was sick and it wasn’t the physical kind. 

It was a disease of the brain and her condition was worsening. Mikoto had stopped eating and she resembled a skeleton. Her hair so thin from malnutrition it came out in clumps. Sasuke wasn’t aware of the extent of the disease until he came home for Christmas. He was immediately overridden with guilt. The last time he saw Mikoto was the day before the semester started. Between then and now something drastic and severe devastated his mother. Rocked and bruised her brain. 

On her nightstand was an array of orange prescription bottles. All antipsychotics and mood stabilizers. Sasuke managed to convince his mother to take her medication. His brain was full. He was helping Mikoto eat applesauce when an unfamiliar woman appeared in the doorway of her bedroom. The woman was dressed in hunter green scrubs. 

“Mikoto Merry Christmas Eve--Oh!” 

Sasuke turned to see the woman. She introduced herself as one of Mikoto’s personal nurses who visited nightly when Fugaku was unable to return home. At the sight of the nurse Mikoto perked up and smiled warmly. 

“Emi! This is my youngest son, Sasuke...isn’t he so handsome?”

**8:50PM**

“Sakura?” Naruto spoke bewildered. 

He stopped in his tracks having entered the fiction part of the library on the first floor. Her body was bent forward and crooked. Her cotton-candy hair covered her face and hid her expression. The library did not follow the dewey decimal system instead everything was filed in alphabetical order. Sakura was leaning up against a bookcase that was caught between Lovecraft and Poe. Perfectly fitting. A chill went down Naruto’s spine.

Naruto looked around the library expecting Sasuke to appear. He didn’t. Naruto turned his attention back to Sakura who was moving slowly towards him. Her body swayed side to side. Like an animal swagger. Like a cobra. Poised and ready to strike. 

“Is uh...Sasuke with you?” Naruto asked and swallowed. Although he already knew the answer. He just hoped maybe he was wrong. She shook her head side to side. 

“Sasuke broke up with me…” 

Sakura lamented. Her voice filled with hysteria. She lifted her head up. There was mania etched on her features. Dark shadows caste under her eyes. Her pupils constricted into pinpricks. Emerald eyes swirled with deafening madness. She had a crooked smile. Only one side of her mouth perked up in a twisted, unnerving, half-smile. The side of her face was swollen and blotchy indigo with the perfect outline of a hand print. 

It filled Naruto with dread. First beginning in his stomach and then seeping out to every limb. 

“I...didn’t know….” Naruto began but was cut off by Sakura’s hysterical laughter. She laughed so loud tears formed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. It was a laughter devoid of happiness. Laughter that can only be replicated by entering psychosis. 

“I’m sorry…” Naruto breathed trying to make his voice gentle and calm. 

“You fucking liar! you piece of shit! You’ve done nothing but laugh at me this whole time!” 

“Of course I haven’t! I-”

“Do you love him?”

“What?”

“Do you love Sasuke? Answer me!” 

“I mean he’s my friend of course I love him.” 

“I won’t let you have him! Do you understand! Sasuke is mine!”

“I won’t take him from you. I support you two dating. Both of you are my friends! You're my friend Sakura.”

“LIAR! Why are you sleeping in his room? Are you fucking him again? Planning on giving him another goddamn STD, hm?!”

“What?! No! Of course not-”

“Then why are you sleeping in his room?!”

“That’s...because…I...” Naruto trailed off he was unable to articulate an explanation. 

Sakura pulled out the flip-phone from her satchel and held it out to Naruto and there was instant recognition in his eyes as his full attention shifted to the phone. Naruto put the pieces of the puzzle together. Starting from Sasuke being irritable and grouchy over Sakura purposefully ignoring and avoiding him this past week. 

The first morning Naruto woke up intermingled with Sasuke on his bed he apologized repeatedly. He told Sasuke he didn’t want to do anything that would cross boundaries. Especially since he was dating Sakura. The consecutive nights Naruto slept on the floor. Careful not to break any boundaries. Naruto told himself he wanted to be close to Sasuke for the purpose of being close to the phone. It was an excuse. Naruto just wanted to be close to Sasuke. 

Naruto felt it. 

The sexual tension between them. Even if it was only one-sided. Every time they accidentally touched Naruto’s skin became inflamed. He felt it in his stomach and then in his groin. Those feelings he felt while on Callisto surfaced. Only he was sober. The feelings of wanting to touch Sasuke. To hold his hand. To kiss him. To crawl into bed and cuddle him all night. He stuffed those feelings back down and suffocated them. It kept him in a constant state of panic. Afraid he was going to cross those boundaries again and ruin everything. The truth was he was in love with his best friend and those feelings were not platonic. 

He wondered if Sasuke felt it too. The answer frightened him. The answer stared at him all wild and frantic and unhinged. Sasuke broke up with Sakura and in kind Sakura stole the flip-phone and requested to meet Naruto here. Alone. 

“I was going to ask you about this phone...but the more I thought about it the more I realized who you were so eager to contact. This is your connection to Haku. I spoke to Fugaku, and he showed me the video. The one from the Twin Leaves Hotel-”

Sakura was interrupted by Naruto’s phone vibrating and ringing. He pulled the phone from his coat pocket and saw that Sasuke was calling him. He forwarded the incoming call to voicemail and looked frantically back at Sakura. Sasuke immediately called again. Naruto jammed the red decline button with such force he thought his phone screen was going to crack. Naruto began to pale. His skin grew cold and wet. His pupils constricted. His fingers began to tremble. The look she held was inhumane. He stepped back. He didn’t want to be here any longer. He took another step back. He wanted to run. 

“What do you mean you watched the video?” Naruto asked. His voice was shaky and came from a primal part of him. 

“I watched the video of you and Haku at the Twin Leaves Hotel. What the fuck is wrong with you? Someone as filthy as you shouldn’t be around Sasuke! So you better leave him alone! You belong with Haku. You two are perfect for each other.”

Naruto continued to move backwards and it only angered Sakura further.

“Where are you going?! If you don’t listen to me I’m going to show the video to everyone!” 

“You wouldn’t…Sakura we’re friends...”

Naruto stopped moving as if hitting an invisible barrier. Naruto stared, unblinking, back at Sakura. She was breathing heavily. Her shoulders rising and falling in uneven movements. She was breathing with her entire torso. She extended her arm and held the cell phone out, while the other hand slipped into her satchel bag, unnoticed by Naruto as his attention was drawn to the flip-phone. 

“Here...I’m giving you this phone, just leave Sasuke alone! Okay!?”

Naruto began walking towards Sakura his movements slow and careful. He would grab the phone and leave. The plan played in his head. Sakura was not sound of mind. She had taken a dive off the deep end and was swimming in a sea of sanity. He had to be extremely careful. Naruto wrapped his hand around the flip-phone and pulled it back just as Sakura pulled something long and sharp from her satchel bag. His attention was on the phone he looked it over ensuring it wasn’t damaged and began sliding it into his pocket. 

Sakura held the riveted handle tightly and raised the blade high above her head. For more power and momentum. 

“Just hurry up and die already.” 

Sakura had lied. She had no intention of letting Naruto leave with the flip-phone. She wanted Naruto dead. Fugaku was right, and convinced her this was the last resort. Only with him dead would he truly leave Sasuke alone. She wanted him gutted and bleeding out on the library floor. A body that wouldn’t be noticed until after New Years. After Naruto was dead Sasuke would come back to her. She knew it! 

Everything happened in slow motion. Naruto’s eyes moved slowly back to Sakura. A dark shadow caste over him. The blade sliced through the air and pierced through layers of clothing until it struck smooth tender flesh. Sakura pulled the blade back and struck again. Only this time pierced tender flesh instantly. Blood poured from the wound and pooled on the floor. 

Naruto’s voice screamed out, “SAKURA!”

**9:00PM**

Sasuke returned to his bedroom, shut the door, and leaned up against it. He found himself trembling again. Emi explained to Sasuke that Mikoto was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. She assured Sasuke that Mikoto was being taken care of with the best integrated treatment team. The very best money could buy. She spent the majority of her time in a day treatment program, and at night was cared for by private nurses. 

When Sasuke asked why his mother was losing weight Emi wasn’t able to force the smile any longer. She refused to eat. Believing the food was poisoned. Emi’s smile returned and she reported that she was prescribed new medications in a clinical study and was responding well to it. She will improve and the weight would return. When Sasuke asked about her thinning hair Emi answered it was a negative side effect from the medication. She is on vitamins to strengthen her hair and nails. The important part is she is responding and improving with medication and treatment. It was that moment when he knew she was lying. She was sugar-coating everything as if saying exactly what Fugaku wanted her to say. 

Sasuke was frantically swimming trying to keep his head above water as a tsunami of emotions hit him one after another. He couldn’t stop shaking. His chest hurt. It hurt to breathe. Every breath was painful. His stomach churned and growled. He felt his vision blur and darken. He wanted to talk to Naruto. He pushed off his door and moved to the desk to where his phone was. Only his eyes moved to where the flip-phone was supposed to be. Only it was gone. He frantically began searching for the phone. It wasn’t just gone. It was stolen. 

He grabbed his phone and called Sakura. A female robotic voice answered, ‘The customer you are trying to reach isn't accepting calls at this time.’ He hung up angrily. His thoughts turned back to Naruto. 

He moved to the text messages on his phone and opened up Naruto’s conversation. He read the conversation and his vision blurred as he processed it. An obvious conversation between Sakura and Naruto took place. He looked at the time. It was already 9:10PM! Sasuke called Naruto. No answer. It went to voicemail. Sasuke called again. Pick up! Pick up! Pick up! Nothing. Voicemail. Naruto’s recorded voice filtered through the receiver. He ended the call. 

Sasuke pulled his jacket on and ran from his room and down the stairs. He wasn’t going to make it back to campus in time if he took the bus. Instead he grabbed the keys to his mother’s subaru. He peeked through the open door of his mother’s bedroom and saw her sleeping. There was a pained expression on her face and she tossed from her side to her back. She was having a nightmare. Emi left as soon as she had fallen asleep. Once she fell asleep she slept throughout the night. He told himself she was going to be okay and he would return soon.

**9:45PM**

Sasuke parked the subaru in the parking lot next to the library. The library was unlocked. The academy had a deeply flawed security system. He pushed the door opened and walked in. The emergency lights were on. It bathed the library in an eerie jaundice light. He called Naruto again and brought the phone to his ear. He moved through the first floor and stopped. 

Staining the white tilted floor, of the fiction part of the library, was a pool of crimson blood. A knife was dropped next to the crime scene. Blood droplets formed in large pockets. A footprint smeared the blood. There was a lot of blood. Somebody was wounded. Gravity pulled the blood down, and then there was movement. Whoever was wounded left. Sasuke followed the blood droplets and the smeared footprints as it led to the side entrance. 

Sasuke called Naruto again and just when he was about to hang up and call again the call connected, and Naruto answered with a unceremonious ‘hello’. Sasuke halted. Feeling instant relief at the sound of his voice. It filled him with warmness. 

“Naruto?!” Sasuke shouted. He wanted to make sure it was his voice and he wasn’t imagining it. 

“Aha...yeah...hey what’s up? You’ve called me like a hundred times. You okay?” it was Naruto’s voice. He sounded distant. He sounded forced. Like he was forcing himself to sound upbeat and nonchalant. Sasuke read right through it. 

“Where are you?!” Sasuke demanded as he continued following the blood droplets. It led out the library. He lost it when he got to the courtyard. 

“I’m in my dorm...why--”

“What dorm number?” Sasuke interrupted. He began running in the direction of Cypress Hall cursing himself for never asking what dorm number Naruto was in. 

“I’m about to go to bed. Let’s talk tomorrow,” Naruto answered flatly. His voice sounded even more distant as if the phone was on speaker and he was moving away from the receiver. Sasuke was being filled with dread. 

“NO! I’M ON CAMPUS!” 

“What? Why?!”

“Because I fucking saw blood in the library. Your blood! Now what is your goddamn room number?” 

“Sasuke...” 

“If you won’t tell me I’ll bang on every single door until you answer!” 

“Sasuke. Go home.”

“Tell me, Naruto! I need to see you...now! Please!” 

There was a long impregnable pause. The call was disconnected and all that filled Sasuke’s ear was a dial tone.


	45. I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight

#  I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight 

 

Sasuke wasn’t going to allow Naruto to have his way any longer. Sasuke wasn’t going to allow Naruto to do whatever he pleased with him any longer. Pulling him this way, that way, and then pushing him away whenever he wanted. He was constantly being selfish. He was spoiled into thinking it was okay to act this way. It wasn't. He was being cruel and cold and callous. 

Sasuke entered Cypress Hall and he stood in the main lobby panting. Trying to come up with a plan. His shoulders rising and falling as he breathed erratically through his mouth. He was going to punch Naruto in the goddamn mouth. There were ten floors and approximately ten rooms on each floor. It was too much. There had to be another way. Think...think...think!

Fuck it.

Sasuke kicked down Umino Iruka’s office door. He went to the computer first. It was password protected. Fuck! He didn’t know the password and wasn’t going to waste time on trying to figure it out. He had to see Naruto. There had to be a room ledger somewhere. A hard copy provided that the computer malfunctioned or the whole system fried or something. There had to be a backup. He began opening up drawers and going through files. In the top drawer of Iruka’s desk he found the skeleton key. Bingo. Another ten minutes and he found a leather bound book of the students in alphabetical order followed by their room assignment. 

Uzumaki Naruto…..Room 707. 

He took the stairs two and three at a time. He didn’t want to chance taking the elevator. Afraid of it getting stuck. Sasuke appeared in front of room 707, and banged on it with a closed fist calling out Naruto's name. It rattled. He tried the door handle. Just in case. Locked. He wanted to give Naruto the chance to open the door first. He called out his name again several more times. Silence. He threatened if Naruto didn’t willingly open up the door he was coming in irregardless. One way or another. He was coming in. He inserted the skeleton key, unlocked the door, and pushed the bedroom door open. 

“Sasuke?!” Naruto asked. Eyes wide. He didn't think Sasuke was serious. He was.

The blonde, shirtless, sat erect on his bed. He had a large square bandage on his left shoulder. It was saturated with fresh blood. His palms were both wrapped in a torn t-shirt. Discarded on the floor was his jacket. Stained with his blood. 

“You stupid fucking idiot! What are you doing? What did I tell you! You have to tell me what’s going on so I can help!”

Naruto was standing up and Sasuke slapped Naruto across the face. Open palmed. His hand stung from the impact. It hurt. The momentum sent Naruto flying back down to the mattress. 

“The fuck Sasuke!”

“That’s my line Naruto! Where is she? Where is Sakura?! I’m going to kill her!”

“Like I know. She ran off after I took the knife from her.” 

“Let me see your hands.”

Naruto shook his head. Sasuke looked into Naruto’s face. He was pale. Extremely pale. He was covered in sweat. Labored breathing. Sasuke grabbed hold of Naruto’s wrist and pulled his arm up. He began to unravel the ripped cloth from his palm. He finally saw the extent of the damage. It was a deep cut. Very deep. It went through the layers of meat until it hit bone. Naruto winced and gasped in pain. His hand trembled fiercely in Sasuke’s hands. Eyes watering up and then he squeezed them shut. 

“You need to go to the hospital, Naruto! This isn’t something that can be covered up with a goddamn band-aid. You need stitches! And your shoulder...”

Sasuke brushed the blood red bandage on his shoulder with his fingertips. Naruto pulled away. Recoiling further on his bed. Pressing his back up against the wall. He didn’t look good. Naruto shook his head no. 

“No. I already called Shisui. He’s going to stitch me up. I’m not going to the hospital. Nobody can know about this.”

“YOU CALLED SHISUI? But you wouldn’t fucking tell me?!”

Naruto focused his attention on the ground. Biting his lower lip. Refusing to look up at Sasuke who loomed over Naruto. Sasuke wasn’t going to allow Naruto to plead the fifth. 

“What happened with you and Sakura-”

“Yo! Feral child. Did someone call a….Doctor?”

Shisui arrived on the scene. Stage right. Interrupting them. He was holding a first aid kit in the air and jingled it. He stopped when he saw Sasuke. He smiled and tilted his head to the side. He flashed an inquisitive look to Naruto who looked back apprehensively. Shisui turned his attention back to Sasuke. 

“Hello, cousin. Aren’t you supposed to be home for the Holidays? Naruto you didn’t say we’d be having company.” 

“You’re going to stitch him up? Right? Hurry up and stitch him up, and don’t waste our time with idle chit-chat.”

Sasuke sat on top of Naruto’s desk. His feet resting on the chair. He watched Shisui closely. Shisui gave Naruto three white pills. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he watched Shisui hold the water bottle while Naruto tilted his head back and swallowed. He watched his adam’s apple bob up and down. Water fell from Naruto’s lips and washed down his chin and neck. It looked erotic. Naruto caught Sasuke staring and held his gaze. Sasuke looked away embarrassed. His face flushing. He cursed himself for getting perverse thoughts at a time like this.

“Minato was delayed. He should be back the 26th. Are you ready?” 

“Mhm.” 

"And you've decided?"

"Mhm."

“You said she has a copy of the video?”

“Mhm.”

Sasuke perked up. It was the mentioning of the video. They were talking about Sakura. Sasuke wanted to know the conversation between Naruto and Sakura in the library. She revealed to Sasuke her knowledge of the video. A video. She must have revealed it to Naruto. Threatened him with it. The video she only would have knowledge from given directly to her by his father. The man who wanted to send Sasuke away to a conversion camp. The conversation between Naruto and Shisui continued.

“Want me to pay her a visit? Send her a warning? Rough her up?”

“No. She’s harmless. I know Sakura...she wouldn’t do anything reckless with the video.”

“She stabbed you.”

“Yeah well...she had a good reason. I’d stab me too if I was in her shoes,” Naruto spoke with a weak smile eyes shifting to Sasuke. He raised his eyebrows at Naruto’s answer. 

"Okay then. I'll see you the 26th."

"Mhm."

After Shisui was finished and bandaged Naruto back up he left. There was an intensity between Naruto and Shisui. Almost as if they were both holding in a secret. As if there was an underlying conversation they were having unbeknownst to Sasuke. The outsider. It irritated Sasuke and he slammed the door shut. Locking it. He turned around to find Naruto slipping out of his jeans and crawling into bed. Rolling his body on top his bed. 

“What is this video? I’ve heard it from everybody. You. Sakura...and now Shisui? Is it the video of your police interrogation?”

“So you did know something about the video.”

“I didn’t watch any video. The only video I know was your police interrogation...but that isn’t the video everyone is talking about. Is it?”

“Go home Sasuke. I’m tired.” 

“No! You don’t get to decide everything all the time, Naruto. What the hell happened to you? We were doing good! Really good...why are you fucking things up now?!”

“I’m not fucking anything up! Why don’t you ask your fucking father about the video if you’re so damn curious! Or Sakura since she’s seen the video! He’s showing everybody this video so I don’t know why you’re playing dumb.” 

“What video?! Fucking talk to me Naruto! Stop shutting me out!”

“You want me to talk to you? It wasn’t my interrogation. It was filmed! The entire night from start to end at the Twin Leaves Hotel. Room 3707! It was always in room 3707. Every humiliating thing I had to do. It was filmed...all of it! I’m on that fucking video...everything he did to me...everything that happened to me, to us, that night is on that fucking video! And your goddamn father has it! Do you understand now, Sasuke?” 

“That...can’t be…” 

Sasuke was in shock. He trailed off. His brain filled with static. His knees felt weak. He was feeling lightheaded. He was feeling nauseous. It was as if someone pressed the barrel of a gun to his chest and pulled the trigger. A bullet shot through his soul. He felt like crying. He wanted to grab Naruto and wrap him tightly in his arms and comfort him. He was afraid. He was afraid he was only going to make things worse. He couldn’t move. He was cemented to the ground. Trembling as Naruto continued. Once it started it didn’t stop. Naruto didn’t stop talking. 

“And I spoke to Haku tonight. He told me...I was targeted from the beginning. The order came from Shimura Danzo and guess who else...your father. They ordered Zabuza and Haku to target me from the goddamn beginning. They had nothing on my father. Nothing at all. So that just left me.”

“I didn’t know!” Sasuke screamed. 

“It doesn’t matter! Look at me...look what your father did to me! He turned me into a fucking whore. He turned me into a goddamn sex slave! He has a video of me. There’s a sex tape of me out there! He turned me into a fucking murderer! He’s not going to stop until I’m dead.”

“Naruto…”

“I’m leaving Konoha. I’m leaving the 26th. I’m not coming back. You were right. The transfer papers went through. There’s nothing left for me in this shit city. If I could burn the whole city to the ground. I would.” 

There was so much hurt in Naruto’s voice. He was sitting at the edge of his bed. The insurmountable force of his hatred focused on Sasuke the surrogate. It was beyond anything Sasuke could comprehend. There was rage. There was madness. There was hopelessness. There was pain. Insufferable pain. Naruto’s voice made Sasuke want to cry. Naruto was going to leave him. Again. They weren’t going to be able to mend things if he left like this. Naruto was going to slip through his fingers once more.

“You were going to leave without saying goodbye to me?”

“What? That’s all you have to say-”

“You were going to do it again?! You said you wouldn’t leave my side and you lied. You were going to leave without telling me? You were going to disappear from my life again? I didn’t know anything Naruto. I didn’t know that he...that he….did that to you. But you’re wrong. He’s not my father. That man is not my father. So stop saying he’s my father! Even if he was. I’m not him. You said that to me in middle school. What our fathers do have nothing to do with us! So if you’re going to burn the city down then I’ll watch it burn with you! We’ll watch it burn together, because I love you okay? I love you Uzumaki Naruto! Usuratonkachi!” 

The timing was never right with them. Sasuke was always a day late and a dollar short. He was beginning to think that it was always going to be like this. There was a cruel god in the world. One of malice and ill will towards men. But if he didn’t try now he would always regret it later. Even if it was just going to be a kiss goodbye. 

Sasuke physically closed the gap between them. He didn’t allow Naruto to answer. He pressed his lips to Naruto’s and kissed him. He had fallen so deeply in love with Naruto. He was his best friend. He loved everything about him. He wanted him in every way. Physically and emotionally. And he wanted Naruto to know. 

The taste of Naruto’s mouth flooded back memories. All the memories they shared with each other from the first day of kindergarten all the way until this moment. They had wasted so much time and energy being apart, and Sasuke wanted to make up for it. 

Naruto didn’t pull away and kissed Sasuke back. 

He stole Naruto’s first kiss and second kiss and third kiss. Sasuke discovered his feelings for Naruto at the age of ten. Only at that time it was confusing and he didn’t know the words to describe it. At thirteen he had a clearer idea. He had feelings for Naruto that went beyond platonic friendship. The words to describe were at the tip of his tongue and just out of reach. Purposely kissing him under the rouge of practice. He just wanted an excuse to kiss him. At sixteen he had the words to describe how he felt. Naruto was his achilles heel. At seventeen he thought he had been mistaken. Maybe confused. He didn’t trust his own sexuality. Thought maybe he could flip a switch and become interested in women. He realized now it doesn’t work that way. 

It was Naruto. It was always going to be Naruto. Forever and always. 

He was the first person he thought of when he woke up in the morning and the last person he thought about before drifting off to sleep. There was no escaping gravity. It was painful but Sasuke knew he had to let Naruto go. At least for the time being. They were both stupid, snot-nosed brats. Powerless. Sasuke knew when they were older they would be reunited and they could pick up where things left off. 

Sasuke moved his lips to Naruto’s neck and pushed him back down onto the bed, pinning him beneath him. Naruto moaned. It was that sound that drove him wild. He was being gentle. Every touch soft. He didn’t want to cause Naruto anymore pain. He brought his lips back to Naruto’s. They were like that for a moment. Time was suspended. Being intertwined. Connected by their mouths. Naruto pulled away and looked up at Sasuke. Those too blue eyes that made him melt. 

“Sasuke...I love you too.”

He didn’t think he could get any happy. He didn’t think it was possible. It happened. 

“Ne...Sasuke…” 

Naruto spoke and he pushed himself up. Sasuke astride Naruto. Blinked. All the hurt and pain that carried heavy on Naruto’s face had vanished. He knew it hadn’t completely vanished. It burrowed back inside him. Feeding on the eternal light that shown from deep within. Those feelings will re-emerge again. But tonight Sasuke would ensure they would not surface again. 

“What?”

“Let’s do it.”

“What?!”

“Come on...let’s do it...I told you I’m leaving in two days...”

“Usuratonkachi don’t say it like that! It sounds disgusting that way.” 

Sasuke’s face turned hot and red with embarrassment. He brought a hand to his mouth looking away. He suddenly felt very aware of his body and how awkward he was. How inexperienced he was. 

“I have condoms and lube.”

“Why?”

“I masturbate a lot.”

All of Sasuke’s confidence was gathered up and then it popped and he felt deflated. He felt embarrassed. He suddenly was very aware that he was a virgin and the only experience he had was with Naruto. The blonde didn’t seem to care and he was taking charge. He pulled his nightstand dresser drawer open and pulled out condoms and lube. It only made Sasuke even more self-conscious. 

“Don’t think…”

Naruto breathed against Sasuke’s mouth and he began kissing him again. He was being filled with warmness and confidence. Sasuke had to ask. 

“Have you done it...with anyone else since...”

“No. Sasuke...I love you and I only want you.”

“I love you too, Naruto.” 

Naruto reassured Sasuke with every kiss. Sasuke closed his eyes and he stopped thinking and started feeling. Only Sasuke wasn’t going to allow Naruto to take charge tonight. Sasuke pulled Naruto’s boxers down and revealed his erect penis. The last time he had Naruto’s penis in his hands was when Naruto was handcuffed to the hospital gurney. He grabbed Naruto's cock with his hands and began moving from the top down. Sasuke brought his mouth to the tip of Naruto’s penis. He trailed his tongue around the rim and sucked the tip. He then took all of Naruto into his mouth. It was a salty taste. It tasted exactly like Naruto. He even loved the taste of his penis. He felt his own erection forming as he continued to suck Naruto off. His mouth filled with salvia. Sasuke slid his tongue up and down the shaft. 

Sasuke grabbed the bottle of lube. Liquid silk. He poured some on his finger and moved his finger to the opening of Naruto’s anus. He felt Naruto’s entire body shudder and gasp as he entered. He tightened around his middle finger. His anus sucking his finger. When Sasuke began moving his finger around Naruto relaxed. Sasuke continued sucking him and maneuvered his finger inside him. Then inserted two fingers. He kept moving until he found a good rhythm. 

“S-s’ke...I’m going to cum…” 

He didn’t know what to expect but his mouth filled up with a thick, warm, salty liquid. He swallowed. it didn't taste bad at all. He brought his lips to Naruto’s inner thighs and kissed him. He began sucking on the soft skin of his inner thigh, while his fingers continued to work their way against his prostate gland. He knew it was the spot because Naruto’s moans intensified, and his toes were curling, and he slammed his head backwards. Sasuke pulled his fingers from Naruto as the other boy’s fingers were going towards Sasuke’s clothes. Naruto was helping him remove his clothes until his body mirrored Naruto’s. Naked and raw. 

Sasuke brought his mouth to Naruto’s nipples. They stood hard and erect. Standing to attention like his cock. His entire body turned him on and it was all his. Sasuke wrapped a condom around his penis taking a coat of the liquid silk to his shaft and fingers once more. Naruto laid on his back, his hips angled upwards, ass hovering above the mattress. He stared up at Sasuke as he positioned the tip of his penis at the entrance of his anus. The blonde’s face was vulgar. Exotic. The expression was what caused Sasuke to slowly insert himself in. It was tight. It was warm. It was wet. He could feel the heat from his insides wrap around his penis. 

He kissed Naruto fervently as he plunged the last few inches in and soon they were physically connected. They were one. One entity. One being. Naruto and Sasuke ceased to exist as separate people instead they transcended time and space. Merging into something poets wrote about and painters painted and musicians composed of. Naruto was loudly moaning with each thrust. Sasuke was going slow at first. He wanted to make sure he was okay, because Sasuke was entering into a subspace. Somewhere deep inside of pleasure and ecstasy. 

“Are you okay.”

“Yes.”

“Will you tell me if it hurts.”

“Yes.”

“I love you Naruto.”

“I love you too Sasuke.”

Sasuke began to thrust harder, and soon they changed positions. Naruto rolled onto all fours, going down on his elbows, ass in the air, and Sasuke balanced on his knees behind him. He continued thrusting. Finding that perfect harmony once more. Naruto had opened up and it felt fucking amazing. He wrapped his hands around and began jerking him off. His entire body beneath him was hot as if he was running a fever. Maybe he was. Sweat beaded on his body. On both their bodies. The temperature in the room was increasing by one hundred degrees. It felt like they were in a sauna. It felt like a midsummer day. 

“Tell me what you like about me…” Naruto moaned and rested his head on his pillow as Sasuke continued to thrust. Sasuke began slowing down so he could gather his thoughts. He didn’t think talking would become so difficult. Once he slowed down he was able to formulate words and answer Naruto. 

“Everything. Your smile...it’s my favorite. I die every time you smile at me. Your laugh. It’s contagious and I find myself laughing along with you. Always. Your kindness. You’d do anything for your friends and loved ones. You’d protect them even if it met risking your life. Your light. You’re the sun in the galaxy and we’re all just planets rotating around. Your face when you’re sleeping. The way you play soccer...never wanting to be the one to score and just being happy with your assists. Fuck, Naruto. Everything.”

Naruto had repositioned. They were now facing each other parallel and mirror images. Naruto’s face inches from Sasuke’s. Naruto’s legs wrapped around Sasuke’s torso. His arms wrapped around Sasuke’s neck. Naruto continued thrusting his body up and down. Sasuke felt pressure build up. It was intensifying. The pleasure was blinding. It blurred his vision. Everything was being whitewashed. 

“Tell me more!”

“Your eyes...I could spend my whole entire life searching for that same color blue in this world, and I’d only find it if I’m looking into your eyes.”

Sasuke brought his lips to Naruto’s. He was feeling it. He was going to cum.

“I’m going to…”

“Don’t...not yet...let’s cum together.”

Sasuke slowed down. It was easier said than done. He wasn’t experienced enough to stop. It was biology. Sasuke wrapped his hand around Naruto’s penis. He felt the precum and mixed it in with the liquid silk. 

“Tell me more…!”

“I’ve loved you ever since we were ten years old. You’re my most precious person...and I’d die for you...and I would kill for you...and if I could do it all again I would feel the same pain. I’d choose the same path because it led me to you...to here...to this moment. You’re my everything, Uzumaki Naruto.”

What he felt for Naruto wasn’t superficial. It wasn’t puppylove and the feeling wasn’t fleeting. It was something that affected him on every level even to the molecular level. Sasuke was able to be himself with Naruto. He didn’t have to hide behind layers of masks. He felt at ease. He felt empowered. It felt like anything was possible. He could accomplish anything. He tried harder. Because he wanted to be the best in Naruto’s eyes. This blonde was going to be the death of him but if he died this happy then he’d gladly allow death to escort his dead corpse to hell. His soul would exist for always. 

Sasuke was brought back to the here and now. He wrapped his arms around Naruto’s sweat soaked body. They came together. Sasuke and Naruto entered a subspace only they were allowed entrance. Into a subspace where they would be able to remain together. Forever. They collapsed back onto Naruto’s mattress. Spent. 

"Fuck Naruto that was amazing...are you telling me we could have been doing that this whole time and we didn't?!"

"Ha ha...yeah. I love you Sasuke."

"I love you too Naruto."

*****

It was boxing day.

Naruto stood outside the entrance of the Guys and Dolls strip club. It was snowing. Thick, light, and fluffy snow. Coating everything ugly in the city. Blue eyes caste up towards the sky. A black face mask covered his mouth and straps secured around both ears. He was wearing a new jacket. A parka. Hands stuffed in the pockets. His fingers wrapping around the handle of a gun that was hidden in his right pocket. He had a track record of his favorite coats getting ruined. He decided to stop getting attached.

Shisui appeared with the sound of crunching snow. Shisui stopped a few feet away from Naruto. His coal eyes shifted around the area. It was quiet in this part of town. Whores only came out at night. Not during the day. Their union wouldn’t allow it. Shisui began the questioning. 

“Were you followed?” 

“No.”

“Did you get it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you ready?”

“Mhm.”

“What have you decided to do?” 

“I’m going to assassinate the Interim Hokage.” 

“Okay. Let’s go make history.”

"Mhm. Haku's waiting for us."


	46. Sail

# Sail 

 

There was a loud clangor. 

The sound of aluminum striking meat. A meat tenderizer. It swung through the air, breaking the sound barrier, and made a memorable sound on impact. It was the sound of something hard being crushed followed by blood splattering against the wall. Naruto was gripping the metal handle of the mallet. White-knuckled. His actions were the cause of this sickening, gut-wrenching, noise that filled the abandoned house on the outskirts of Konoha. 

On one side of the mallet’s face was decorated with sixty-four tiny pyramids that sharpened to a point at the tip. This was the side that was used to make that noise. The side that was covered in blood. The other side, the smooth side, was clean and forgotten. Unused. It was the sound of sixty-four pyramids tenderizing meat. Over and over again. Naruto continued the attack until the clangor noise turned into a splatting noise. As if he was liquefying tomatoes on top of tomato corpses. The tomato juice ran red down the man’s face. 

The mallet came down again. Across the bloated, bloodied, bruised face of the man whose arms were tied behind his back. His right cheek busted open oozing out white fatty tissue, sweat glands, and flesh. The skin flapped and blood vessels popped.

Shisui stood behind the man. The man was grunting and stifling back screams with each blow. Shisui held a fist-full of the man’s brunette hair. Forcing his head back, and his face upright. A face that was beyond recognition. It was painted in the color of busted capillaries and the color of ruptured flesh and fatty tissue. Sixty-four pyramid imprinted his tenderized flesh. 

“Now, tell me the password. This will be the last time I ask you. I promise you.” 

Shisui’s attention was focused on Naruto. He was unable to look away. Naruto’s whole demeanor was unexpected. Deranged. Naruto was in absolute control. A manic. He wore an expression that Shisui saw in the other Anbu members on occasion. When they gave into their beastly side. Only it was as if Naruto had evolved. The blueness of his eyes were cold. Like the arctic tundra at sunset. Void of anything living. Whereas there was a warped, crooked, smile on his lips. As if it was broken and the corners of his mouth had to be stitched to hold. It was unnatural. Twisted. He was coming alive to this man’s brutality. 

The man’s response was to shake his head no and grunted, “Go fuck yourself!” He spat blood up at Naruto’s face. Fugaku’s men were fiercely loyal and dependable. But completely expendable. Naruto wanted this man to understand the position he was in. 

“Naruto...what are you doing?” Shisui asked. 

The blonde dropped the bloodied meat tenderizer and pulled from his holster a handgun. A Glock 41. It was too late. Shisui released his hold of the man’s hair and seemingly vanished only to reappear, safely, behind the blonde just as the trigger was pulled. The bullet ripped through the man’s skull. Severing the medulla. The part of the brain that controls breathing and heart rate. It killed him instantly. 

“Naruto!” Shisui chastised. Much like a parent chastises a child for sneaking a cookie before dinner. 

“Shut up Shisui! We do things my way!” Naruto shouted back. His breathing came out slowly. He composed himself once more. 

“As you can see...I just want the password. One way or another. Tell me the password and I’ll let you live. If you don’t. I’ll kill you,” Naruto spoke calmly. 

He turned around and faced the other man who was tied up. Naruto grabbed hold of the black sack that was over his face and pulled it off. The man who had to listen to the torture and murder of his colleague was horrified when the mask was pulled away. The man was trembling. The man was panting. Sweat poured down his face like a leaky faucet. His pupils pinpricks. Wide-eyed and frenzied. Fear permeated through every pore. 

It thrilled Naruto. It was a different kind of high. One experienced in the absence of Callisto. It was a role-reversal. He cupped the man’s cheek with his hand. A kind, gentle, gesture. He stroked the man’s face reassuringly. The warped smile stitched back on his lips. There was recognition in the man’s eyes and Naruto nodded his head in agreement. He remembered and that pleased Naruto. Greatly. 

“You remember me right? You paid Zabuza $750 to fuck me at the Twin Trees Hotel. Room 3707. You see...I wanted to meet you again. I knew it had to be you. No one else would do. I know everything about you. Everything about your wife...and your daughter. Tell me. How do you think they will react when they find out that Fugaku paid you to fuck a 16 year old boy...or worse...that you enjoyed it?”

“P-Please! I...c-can’t...Fugaku will-!”

“Tell me the password, or I’ll kill you. And then I’ll tell your wife and daughter what you did to them.” 

“0806091945! Please! Don’t kill me!”

Naruto looked up at Haku who was leaning up against the wall. Cell phone in hand. Haku looked at Naruto and nodded his head yes. It was the correct password. Haku inserted a memory stick into the USB port of the cell phone. Naruto nodded his head satisfied he was getting one step closer to the end. Everything was falling into place. 

“Is it all there?” Shisui asked as he reappeared in front of Haku who handed the phone over. 

“Yes.”

“All if it?” Naruto asked.

“All of it,” Shisui answered. 

Naruto raised the handgun and pulled the trigger. A loud banging noise followed. Then the noise of a body slumping lifelessly to the ground. It made a lovely sound. Every time. Naruto was cleansing the earth. 

Shisui and Haku stopped speaking and both turned their attention to the blonde. Both shocked by his actions. A silence settled over the trio as Naruto secured his gun back into its holster. The expression on his face remained unchanged. 

“Naruto...” Shisui began but was interrupted.

“I don’t need a goddamn lecture, Shisui. Torch them and let’s go. We still have work to do.” 

Naruto wasn’t going to allow him to live. It was textbook premeditated murder. He wasn’t going to allow any of them to live. One by one they will all fall down. He was going to personally drag them to hell. Leaving a trail of corpses like bread crumbs behind him. There was no saving him now so he didn’t want to listen to another lecture. Not by Shisui. Not by anyone.

*****

“Godaime. Taiko and Nako’s whereabouts remain unknown. Taiko was last seen leaving work, and he never made it home. Taiko vanished before retrieving his car from the parking garage. All cameras were disabled. Nako received a phone call during dinner and left stating he had to meet an old friend. Nako appeared in distress when he left the residence. The phone used to contact Nako was from a restricted number...we were able to get a phone number and trace it. It was made from a payphone. We are currently checking into it further.”

Fugaku leaned back in his chair and listened to the report with closed eyes. It was no coincidence that Taiko and Nako went missing. The one behind it was Uchiha Shisui. Fugaku would wager everything on the mastermind being Shisui. A bilge rat he wanted dead. It was inevitable. The moment Yuki Haku got his hands on those documents. Fugaku knew it would come to this. Fugaku wanted Haku dead. Wanted all the rats eradicated. 

It was the reason that he ordered the death of Haku. He wanted his head on a silver platter seasoned with roasted root vegetables. Wanted to cannibalize him. The child-slut had managed to get his hands on the paper trail that connected Uzumaki’s drug addiction and prostitution to both Uchiha Fugaku and Shimura Danzo. Fugaku cursed Danzo out for allowing such a stupid careless mistake. 

Those documents fell into Shisui’s hands. If it was revealed to the public all of Fugaku’s efforts to secure the Hokage title would have been meaningless. Only. Shisui was aware that Fugaku still had in his possession the video. So he wouldn’t reveal the documents. A tit for tat. They have come to an impasse. Shisui wasn’t going to stop until Fugaku was rotting six feet under and pushing up daisies, and Fugaku wasn’t going to stop until he was sworn in as the official fifth Hokage. 

Fugaku knew his life was in more danger. Security was tightened and quadrupled. 

The assassination attempt on Namikaze Minato had failed. Shimura had ordered two black operatives to blow up the train that Minato was riding on. 

The attack was executed when Minato was set to return to Konoha for Christmas. The black operatives sent returned in body bags. And Minato lived. Sort of. Minato was revived and saved by Chiyo, a Suna medical surgeon. The icing on the cake was everything was kept hush-hush. Nothing was reported. A media blackout. It was all swept under the rug. Almost as if it didn’t happen. But it did...it had happened. And Shisui was made aware. It was why things have been hastened. Why Taiko and Nako were missing. It must be. 

The last report Fugaku received was Minato put into a medically induced coma. Barely alive. Machines kept him alive. Minato was on life support. Hooked up to machines that kept him alive. Machines that pumped his heart. Machines that breathed for him. Without those machines he would die. He was currently out of reach and being protected by Suna. 

History was repeating itself. Fugaku was unable to kill Minato. It only left one other person. 

“I’m enacting a kill order. The death of Uzumaki Naruto.” 

“Sir...Uzumaki was transferred to a preparatory school in Suna...he is currently under the protection of the Kazekage.”

“And what proof do we have that he’s in Suna?”

“The transfer documentations.”

“Hmm? Oh really? Where is Uchiha Shisui whereabouts, again?”

“Somewhere In Konoha, sir.” 

“Shisui was ordered by Minato to protect his son. So tell me...how is Shisui able to protect him if he’s in Suna and Shisui is in Konoha?”

“It would be hard…”

“Unless…?”

“Uzumaki Naruto is in Konoha?”

“Precisely.” 

“This information remains with Root, and Root alone. No one else is granted clearance. Especially my sons. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

*****

Naruto stood on the rooftop staring down at Konoha. A black face mask covered his mouth and jaw. The straps secured around both ears keeping it in place. Blonde strands fell over his eyes and framed his face. The sunflower yellow gone leaving it white-washed. An ashen blonde. Perfectly matching the coolness of his winter blue eyes. Dark circles framed his eyes. Resembling a blonde, white-washed, panda. He wasn’t sleeping and he needed more adderall.

A month had passed. Exactly one month to the date. It was January 25. 

Naruto’s thoughts wandered to Sasuke. If he closed his eyes he could feel Sasuke’s lips pressing up against his. And he did. Taking in the memory and losing himself in it. The smell of Sasuke filled his nostrils. He could feel Sasuke’s fingers on either side of his face. He could taste Sasuke’s mouth. He could hear Sasuke’s proclamation of love. They were intertwined, naked, under Naruto’s blankets and sharing Naruto’s bed. It was a perfect memory. A perfect way to say goodbye. 

It left him delirious. It only made things more difficult. Clouded his mind. Like it was doing right now in this moment. That night played on repeat. From beginning to end. 

The night Sakura stabbed Naruto in the library was the same night Naruto called Haku. It was the same night Haku confessed everything to Naruto stating he had proof. The night he found out the truth it left him nauseous, hyperventilating, and sinking further into the darkness of his own heart. 

The next day Shisui informed Naruto of the assassination attempt on Minato. When the cup is brim full before, the last superadded drop is charged alone to be the cause of all the running over. 

Naruto wanted to disappear without having to say goodbye to Sasuke. Disappear into madness. It was in that moment that Naruto understood Haku’s words that were spoken to him in the bathroom of the court house. He wrestled with emotions and thoughts of suicide and homicide, and those lines blurred until there was no longer a clear distinction between the two. Naruto was fully ready to let go of everything he had until Sasuke appeared outside his dormitory. Banging on the door and demanding to be let inside. 

His heart ached. He missed Sasuke. He wanted to see him, and if he couldn’t he’d settle to talk with him on the phone. It was almost enough to stop his actions. Almost. But it wasn’t enough. Naruto was wounded in every aspect. And wanted Uchiha Fugaku dead. 

Naruto heard the sound of crunching snow and was pulled from his thoughts. He glared at Shisui from the corner of his eyes. Naruto stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned to face the man who intruded. Shisui broke the silence. 

“What happened today?”

“I did what I had to do to get the password.” 

“You didn’t have to kill him. You have to ask yourself if it’s worth it. Because you’re going to have to live with it for the rest of your life.”

“Tell me, Shisui. When you pimped me out to Zabuza...was it worth it? Because from where I’m standing you weren’t able to arrest Danzo or Biwa. Actually you weren’t able to do shit. I was the one who killed Biwa. It took Haku and I a month to secure Danzo’s work schedule. Maybe you should ask yourself how far you’re willing to go...because I can already tell it’s not far enough.” 

“Where do you draw the line then? Would you kill Sasuke if it met killing Fugaku?”

“I’m not going to answer you’re stupid rhetorical questions.”

“We’re not going to get close to Fugaku. It’s impossible. Especially with Nako and Taiko dead. How do you propose you get close to Fugaku if not through his family?” 

“I….”

Naruto was unable to finish the sentence. It trailed off into oblivion. He hadn’t thought that far. Adderall only helped him focus on one task at a time. Shimura Danzo was the next name on his list. The list resembled the board of a chutes and ladders game. It was all carefully planned out on how to kidnap, torture, and kill Danzo, but also laid out all the pitfalls and worse-case scenarios. All so that they can begin planning the assassination of the interim Hokage. 

Shisui had been hinting at the strategy of getting to Fugaku. It wasn’t anything diabolical. It was the same one Fugaku used to get to the Yondaime. Fugaku would be so focused on himself and his own personal safety he would be blind sighted. Hook. Line. Sinker. 

The question resurfaced. Is Naruto able to physically hurt, or kill, Sasuke if it met killing Fugaku? Naruto swallowed uncomfortably and glared back at Shisui. He wanted to hear Shisui’s answer. 

“Are you willing to kill Itachi?”

“You asked me how far I was willing to go. The short answer is yes I am. The long answer? The difference between Itachi and I...I am willing to kill him. But he even though there is the kill order, and even though he was directly ordered too, he will not kill me. You’re still a feral child. But I sense a likeness in you. You're like me Naruto. I think the same difference lies between you and Sasuke.” 

“You’re wrong! I can’t!”

“Then we might as well stop here. End things now while we still can and go to Suna. Minato is not going to wake up from his coma...they are only keeping him alive so that you can say goodbye-”

“SHUT UP! There are medical miracles-”

“Face the fucking reality, Naruto! Minato is dead! He isn’t going to come out of the coma.” 

Naruto had tears in his eyes. It blurred his vision. His breathing came out in short rasps. His heart beat painfully in his ribcage. He began trembling. He couldn't think of his father right now. His father who was being hooked up to machines in Suna and kept alive. Alone. It was too painful. 

“I can’t hurt Sasuke. I can’t lose him too!”

“Grow the fuck up! You can’t have it both ways. You want Itachi and Mikoto dead, but you want Sasuke to live? No. I’m going to give it to you straight. This is the only way. It’s something more effective. We’re talking about the long play. The way to get to Fugaku is through his family. We need to kill Itachi, and Mikoto...and Sasuke. Then we need to release those documents. Fugaku will lose his family and Hokage. Two birds. One stone.” 

“Sasuke dead...and Fugaku alive? What kind of fucking plan is that?! I'm not doing that!”

“What’s going to be more effective in hurting Fugaku? The man ordered Zabuza and Haku to target you. The man who caused your father to step down from Hokage. And he assassinated your father. If you have a better plan please...tell me. This is the only way we can hurt Fugaku. Keep him alive to bear the grief of the destruction of his family and loss of the Hokage title. Unless you have a plan. So do you?” 

Naruto’s dropped his head and shook his head side to side. He didn’t have one. 

A vivid memory flashed across Naruto’s mind. It was the very first day of Kindergarten. He was four years old when he was introduced to Sasuke and Fugaku. It was a prickly first introduction. Like maneuvering through a brier patch. When Sasuke stormed off into the school building Naruto looked up at the Police Commissioner’s face. It was the same look Fugaku gave when he sat across Naruto in the visitor room of the psychiatric hospital. The look he gave four year old Naruto was a premonition. The look that said he was going to decimate Naruto’s entire being inside out. And he did. He really did. 

“Look at me,” Shisui demanded. 

He stepped in front of Naruto so that they were less than a foot apart. Naruto lifted his head. Locking eyes with Shisui. Maybe he was right. Maybe there was a likeness between Naruto and Shisui. It was something Naruto refused to verbally admit. The Uchiha were cursed. Some Naruto wanted to fuck and others he wanted to fucking beat to death. And some...like Shisui...maybe both. 

“Decide right here, right now. Either we end things now and walk away. Return to Suna. Like cowards. Or. We stay. We carry out this plan. And avenge Minato. Do we stay or do we go? Answer!”

“We stay. But I can’t kill Sasuke. I’ll handle Itachi...he won’t be expecting it.” 

“You’re cute. You think you’re ready to join the grown-ups table? You can’t handle Sasuke let alone Itachi. I’ll handle the brothers. You take care of mother dearest.” 

“Fine.” 

“Perfect.” 

“Let’s fucking destroy Danzo.”

“I’m liking you more and more feral child.”

Shisui pulled down the black mask from Naruto’s face. It hung beneath his jaw revealing his lips. Shisui stepped closer to Naruto bridging the gap. He wrapped a hand around Naruto’s waist pulling him closer until he was pressing up against him. The other hand trailed a finger across Naruto’s bottom lip. It only elicited a smirk from the blonde. He was unamused. 

“Why do you always do this? You make my skin crawl. You haven’t forgotten have you? You’re on my list too. I’m only cooperating with you out of convenience. Don’t mistake that for me wanting to fuck you. I don’t know what your relationship was with my dad...but don’t pull this shit with me again.” 

It only caused Shisui to pull back and laugh. Man oh man were they all sick in the fucking head.

*****

Sasuke pushed open the door of the tea lounge. A scarf wrapped tightly around his neck and covered his mouth. Gloves on his fingers. Thick winter boots on his feet. The temperature was below freezing. Even dressed warmly he was shivering. His fingers and toes were numb and stinging. He had to walk twenty minutes from the bus stop. It was too cold for it to snow, and Konoha was covered in a sheet of ice. It made walking extremely difficult. 

He shifted his eyes around in search of his brother. Eyes bouncing from face to face. Already annoyed with the frigid temperatures, the long trek to a location on the outskirts of town, and then having to maneuver through the crowd in search of him. He was resentful and bitter and angry. 

The amount of bodies in the lounge warmed him up and fogged the windows. It left him feeling tingly all over. The feeling of plunging your hand from hot water into cold water washed over his entire body. He found his brother in the back corner. 

“Sasuke!” Itachi spoke with a forced smile. It unnerved Sasuke. He sat into the empty chair in front of Itachi and furrowed his eyebrows.

"What's with that fake smile?" 

“Here...I ordered you green tea,” Itachi continued as he picked up the miniature tea kettle and began pouring it into the hand painted tea cup placed in front of Sasuke. The gesture didn’t change anything and if anything put Sasuke more on edge. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach. 

“What are you doing? Why did you want me to meet you here?”

“It’s about Naruto.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened and then narrowed. He shifted his eyes around the tea lounge. It was the first Saturday in February. The last time he saw Naruto was Christmas Day. A burst of joyous laughter erupted from the table nearest them and Sasuke’s eyes lingered on the girl who had thrown her head back and laughed. Hating her for being so happy and carefree. He brought his attention back to Itachi. The smile left his brother’s features. Sasuke was beginning to relax since the charade was dropped. 

"What about him?"

“When was the last time you spoke to him?”

“It’s been over a month. He won’t return any of my phone calls or messages since he went to Suna.” 

“Naruto isn’t in Suna. He’s in Konoha...and he murdered Shimura Danzo last night.” 

“What?!”

Sasuke practically leapt out of his chair. It elicited several people to turn their attention towards the brothers. He brought his own tea cup filled with jasmine to his mouth and took a sip. It only caused Sasuke to become more impatient. 

“Why are you telling me here?”

“Because you’re in danger. I do not want you to return to campus and I do not want you to return home.” 

“What...why?”

“Naruto’s goal is to hurt Fugaku...by targeting his family. He isn’t alone. He has Shisui and the other Anbu members. Their goal is to hurt us.” 

“What are you talking about? Naruto wouldn’t hurt me.”

“There was an assassination attempt on Namikaze’s life. Since then Nako and Taiko were found murdered and their bodies torched. Obito is still missing. And last night Shimura Danzo was murdered-” 

He was interrupted. There was a buzzing noise. A vibrating noise coming from Itachi’s coat pocket. He pulled it out and answered. The color of Itachi’s face drained. His typical expressionless face turned dark. The shadows deepened on his face as if a flashlight was illuminating his face from below. 

“I understand.” 

The phone call ended. Itachi lowered the phone and stared deep into Sasuke’s eyes. It was the look someone had before delivering bad news. Very...very...very bad news. 

“Mikoto went missing from the day center.”

“What!” 

“She was last seen talking to a blonde boy in a black-mask before leaving with him.”


	47. Antarctica

# Antarctica 

 

The car door slammed shut, and Sasuke fastened his seat belt in the passenger seat of his brother’s subaru. Before he clicked the buckle the michelin tires were squealing on asphalt. The engine reved and and roared alive lurching forward at neck breaking speed. The tires left tread marks in the parking lot as it pulled out onto the road. 

“Fuck Itachi!” Sasuke yelled as he was thrown back. 

“Hold on,” Itachi replied calmly. 

Sasuke’s seat belt tightened up and locked him in place. He was unable to move freely. His hands went to the seat belt and he attempted to pull it free from it's choke hold. It was futile. He grunted in dissatisfaction at Itachi’s remark. His brain began to process the words his brother spoke to him inside the tea lounge prior to their sudden departure. 

“What did you mean...there was an assassination attempt on Namikaze?! By Fugaku?!” Sasuke yelled. Demanding more concrete answers. 

Itachi jerked the wheel to the left. Pulling the car into the opposite lane to pass a slow driving pickup truck. Itachi then pulled the wheel to the right and slid back into the correct lane. The car responded fluidly and swiftly. His movements were precise. He was an expert driver. Itachi did not take his eyes off the road. He had to be aware of his surroundings at all times. He was not a distracted driver. He was a very careful driver. 

“Fugaku ordered the assassination attempt…”

“Why?!”

“Fugaku is afraid if Minato is still alive he would usurp the Hokage seat.”

“That's bullshit! He stepped down! When did it happen?”

“December 24th.” 

Fuck. Fuck! FUCK! 

Sasuke slammed his head back against the seat. He squeezed his eyes shut. He stomped his feet. He balled his hands up into fists. He slammed his right hand up against the passenger window in frustration. He wanted to shatter the glass. To break something. A loud scream of animalistic rage escaped his lips. It was complete with expletives and anguish directed at his father. He felt tears well up in his eyes in response to Naruto's unimaginable pain and he moved his hands to fiercely rub the tears dry. 

His thoughts immediately turned to Naruto. Questions flashed through his mind like an automatic slideshow. When did Naruto find out? Who told him? How is he handling things? Is he alone? Is he afraid? Where is he right now? What is he feeling at this moment? Is he afraid? Anxious? Hurt? What is he thinking? And why didn't he call Sasuke and tell him? Sasuke would have dropped everything and rushed to his side. 

Sasuke cursed himself for leaving Naruto. Nothing good came from them being separated. Sasuke sensed it Christmas Eve. Witnessed first hand the ugliness and bitterness of Naruto and it was directed at Fugaku. Naruto’s voice screamed in his head from the memory. 

‘ _The entire night from start to end at the Twin Leaves Hotel. Room 3707! It was always in room 3707. Every humiliating thing I had to do. It was filmed...all of it! I’m on that fucking video...everything he did to me...everything that happened to me, to us, that night is on that fucking video! And your goddamn father has it! Do you understand now, Sasuke?_ ’

‘ _Look at me...look what your father did to me! He turned me into a fucking whore. He turned me into a goddamn sex slave! He has a video of me. There’s a sex tape of me out there! He turned me into a fucking murderer! He’s not going to stop until I’m dead._ ’

“Naruto wouldn’t hurt me!” Sasuke snarled in defense. There had to be another reason why Naruto and Mikoto were together. Maybe it was just a threat. As if to show Fugaku ‘ _Look what I can do_ ’. 

“You’re not whose he’s trying to hurt...it’s Fugaku. Naruto has our mother, Sasuke! I’d as surely kill Fugaku myself before I allow anyone to harm her!”

“Did you know about the assassination plan this whole time, Itachi?!” Sasuke screamed. He suddenly felt protective over Naruto. He knew that Naruto wouldn’t hurt Mikoto...right? 

He glared at his brother as an accomplice. His brother had been delving in shady dealings of their father this entire time. Especially being a willful participate in the prostitution of Uzumaki Naruto. To Sasuke he was equally culpable. Throwing stones while living in a glass house. Itachi and Sasuke had never been close and an even bigger rift separated them once Sasuke found out Itachi’s involvement with Naruto. Even if Itachi was just playing a passive part. Sasuke was angry because Itachi was an adult and played a part in the vicious game. 

“No!” Itachi answered. It was the most emotion Sasuke heard from him in years. It felt genuine. 

“Who told you about it?”

“...”

“Who told you, Itachi? Maybe it was false information. There has been nothing in the media. This for sure would have made front page news! It could just be rumors...”

“...”

“Itachi!”

“Naruto told me.” 

“What the fuck! You’ve talked to Naruto?” 

Sasuke’s mind was whirling as if in the epicenter of a tornado. Destructive winds all around. Destroying everything in its path. He felt angry again. Naruto was doing it again. Reaching out to others and not Sasuke. It hurt like a punch to the gut. Instead of calling Sasuke Christmas Eve he called Shisui. The man who willingly pimped him out over and over...and now...calling Itachi? The man who sold him Callisto and a passive participant to what Shisui was forcing him into? Naruto is sick in the head. 

Sasuke was upset because he had attempted to call Naruto multiple times since Christmas Day, and he sent him text messages, and even did one sappy email practically begging Naruto to contact him. It was pathetic. Yes. But. Sasuke missed him. And Naruto? Ignored every single attempt. He just wanted to know the stupid blonde was doing okay. Even a short text message of ‘ _I’m fine_ ’ would have sufficed. Anything was better than being ignored. Naruto was cold and so very cruel. And yet he still loved him. He loved him so much it hurt not seeing him and worse not even speaking with him. 

“Yes and I am only now realizing what Naruto's true intentions were. His target was never you or me...it was Mikoto from the beginning. To keep us away from her,” Itachi explained vindictively. 

“When did you speak to Naruto?”

“Yesterday.”

“What did he say?” 

There was a desperation in Sasuke’s voice. Itachi tightened his hold on the leather steering wheel inadvertently pressing his foot further down on the acceleration pedal. The speedometer hovered between sixty-three and sixty-four miles per hour. 

“He said...there was a plan to harm you and me as a way to hurt Fugaku. He told me...he wanted me to protect you. He told me Shisui was going to target us immediately after Danzo was killed. Said Shisui was going to kill you. He told me that Shisui couldn't bring himself to kill me, so you were his target. He told me I was to be the collateral. Made me aware. I didn’t believe him. He told me he was going to kill Danzo. He told me I had to believe him then. Danzo was killed last night, and now Mikoto is gone.” 

“Shisui is putting Naruto up to this...this isn’t Naruto’s idea! He warned you! This is-” 

“Naruto told me about the assassination attempt. He told me he wasn’t going to stop. He told me he wasn’t going to stop Shisui...but wanted me to know regardless. He told me they have documents. Proof that Fugaku was the one behind his involvement in the prostitution ring of Twin Leaves Hotel. He asked me for Fugaku’s cell phone number in exchange for telling me this information.”

“Did you give it to him?”

“Yes.” 

“Where are we going?”

“To City Hall. To meet with Fugaku.”

They were nearing the city limits. The speedometer hit sixty-five miles per hour. Itachi moved his foot to the brake and pressed on it. The brake pedal sunk all the way to the floor. Itachi lifted his foot and looked down. He internally screamed. His thoughts immediately cursed out Shisui. Naruto calling him yesterday was the perfect red herring. It was a trick. How far did they plan this? Itachi was almost impressed if not for their lives being in danger. The pedal remained sunk against the floor. Completely disabled. The subaru continued at sixty-five miles per hour. Itachi looked back up at the road. 

“Sasuke. Brace yourself for impact. The hydraulics failed.” 

“What?!”

Itachi’s foot rested on the floor. Away from the acceleration. The speedometer started to slowly decrease. It wasn’t going down quickly enough. His fingers wrapped around the emergency break. Wanting to time it perfectly. They were now within the city. Time was running out. Itachi saw the grinding traffic ahead. His eyes shifted to the parked cars on the side of the road. They would crash if he didn’t think quickly. Time was up. Itachi pulled the emergency brake upwards. 

Itachi didn’t know if it was quick enough. He pulled the wheel to the side. He made the decision of slowing the car down further by hitting a parked car on the driver’s side and away from his brother. The airbags would implode and it would save their lives. Not wanting to hit the parked car on the side of the road head on he tried to angle it the best he could. The mechanics froze up. Itachi lost control of the power steering. Newton’s laws of motion took over. 

The subaru clipped the trunk of the parked car, and not the side like he intended. The driver’s side of the hood impaled. There was a crunching noise as the metal of the hood was pushed back. The impact caused the subaru to go airborne. It flipped the car over onto the passenger side and crashed against the asphalt. The airbags did not deploy. The windshield shattered and glass flew towards them. The subaru continued sliding before gravity pulled the subaru upside down landing on the roof.

*****

“Naruto. Listen to me carefully. This is how it’s going to go down.”

“Mhm.”

“I want you to call Itachi on the phone and tell him about our plan. Everything. I also want you to notify him about the documents and about the assassination attempt. In exchange we need Fugaku’s personal cell phone number. You will go to the day center and pick Mikoto up and bring her to the same building where we disposed of Nako and Taiko. Put a bullet through her head.”

“And what will you do?”

“I’ll take care of the brothers.” 

“Mhm.”

“Oh...wait…”

“What?”

“We’re going to need collateral. If you give me a kiss I’ll spare Sasuke. I want to clarify. I want a kiss with tongue.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No. Otherwise. I’ll spare Itachi and use him as collateral. Tell Itachi this part as well. Yeah?”

“Whatever. Do what you want. I’ve already come to terms with Sasuke’s death.” 

“Even if it met sparing Sasuke’s life you still won’t kiss me?” 

“Fuck off...after all of this is done I’m putting a bullet between your eyes, but if you ask nicely, I’ll turn the gun on myself and we’ll go to hell together.” 

“We can’t die my little feral child. We have to live with this for the rest of our lives.”

*****

Sasuke woke up. He became aware. There was a deafening ringing noise in his ears. Something prevented him from opening his eyes. The anatomy of fear. His amygdala hijacked his brain. Pumping chemicals into his bloodstream. Priming him to flight or fight. He could feel a layer of fresh sweat on his skin. His heart was beating so fiercely as if attempting to escape his rib cage by pounding through bone and flesh.

There was a dull, throbbing, pain on the right side of his temple and forehead. He felt warm liquid rolling down the side of his face. The last thing he remembered was the subaru going airborne and then slamming hard against the asphalt on the passenger side. He remembered the barrage of shattered glass, then his head struck the passenger window, and he blacked out. 

Sasuke opened his eyes. He was laying on his left side in an unknown windowless room. His vision was blurry. He felt his contact lenses readjusting against his cornea, his vision became clearer, and everything shifted back into focus. Sasuke tried to move his hands but a clattering noise was heard. His right wrist clinked against a pair of metal bracelets. He was handcuffed to the radiator that was bolted to the floor. 

“Oh hello cousin you’re finally awake.”

Sasuke shakily pushed himself upright. His right wrist was handcuffed to one of the legs of the radiator. He wasn’t able to move any more expect in an upright sitting position. He felt woozy. Felt dizzy. The world began spinning and he had to close his eyes to steady himself. He felt nauseous. He felt it coming up. The bubbling bile forcing its way up his esophagus. Sasuke leaned to the side and vomited. A mixture of yellow bile, and green tea splashed against the wooden floors. It smelled rank. His eyes watered, his nostrils burned, and his throat hurt. 

“Well...isn’t that disgusting.” 

The sweat continued to drench him. It was warm in the room. Very warm. Unbearable. He wanted to strip from his clothes he was so hot. Sweltering. He was still in his winter jacket. Sasuke leaned up against the radiator. He noticed the radiator was on. He felt the heatwaves, burning, against his back. Cooking him as if he was inside an oven. He attempted to take his jacket off. His right hand was still fastened to the leg of the radiator so the jacket balled around his right arm. 

“Congratulations. You won the lottery.” 

“What…are you...where am I?” Sasuke asked. His senses were back. He looked up and saw Shisui standing in front of him. 

“Where are you? You’re currently handcuffed to the radiator in this room."

“What happened?”

“You were in a car accident.” 

“Uncuff me you bastard!” Sasuke screamed. 

“Mhm..no. I don’t think I will.” 

“Where’s Itachi?!”

“Dead.”

“WHAT?!”

Shisui burst out into hysterical laughter. Overcome with madness. His laughter caused a cold chill to sweep through Sasuke’s body. He was awake and alert. His eyes dilated. Focused. He was back at one hundred percent. 

“Look...I killed him...he’s dead. I actually killed him!” Shisui was now jumping up and down and pointing to a lifeless body across the room. Sasuke’s eyes trailed to where he was pointing. Itachi was crumpled into a heap on the floor. Unmoving. His eyes closed. A halo of blood outlined his body. Sasuke didn't know where he was wounded. 

“I honestly didn’t think I could do it...I tried and failed before. I tried to kill him in a seedy motel room. But couldn’t do it. Guess what? I knew I could do it this time! I only needed one of you alive. For collateral. I think Naruto would be happy. Even though he won’t admit it. I gave him the choice, cousin. Told him it could be you or Itachi we use for collateral. It was up to him. Naruto told me he didn’t care. He’s cold blooded like that, huh cousin?” 

Sasuke’s eyes continued to focus on Itachi. He covered his mouth with his free hand. The words Shisui spoke were being processed very slowly. It sounded like he was under water. His head was full. The ringing noise continued. The internal panic button was pressed. He was facing death and...death stared back. And it was frightening and he screamed. It was a loud guttural scream filled with fear and panic. He didn’t want to die. 

“Ah. What a lovely sound. Please scream louder for me. The camera loves you. It'll match the one I took of Itachi,” Shisui spoke as he held up his cellphone capturing a video recording of Sasuke. 

“Get that camera away from my fucking face you piece of shit!” 

“Sit patiently, cousin. We’re going to be alone together for a while. Do you still care about Naruto?” Shisui asked. He stopped recording. 

“What are you talking about? Leave his name out of your filthy mouth!”

“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Shisui was on his knees now a few feet away from Sasuke. Instinctively Sasuke pressed his back up against the burning radiator wanting to get as far away from Shisui as possible. He yelped out in pain when he realized and pushed his body forward. The handcuff pulled at his wrist and began cutting into his skin. 

“You see...I was in love with Minato. We were in a relationship. I think he was the first person I’ve ever truly loved. I didn’t care much for your brother. I always hated your brother just like I’ve always hated you. But Itachi ended up growing on me. Like mold. That’s why it scared me when I couldn’t kill him the first time. When he betrayed me. When he betrayed Minato. But...it was always Minato.”

“Stop talking to me!” Sasuke snarled. Shisui wasn’t listening and continued to have word vomit.

“Everything would have been fine. But Fugaku killed Minato...Minato is dead. He’s never going to wake up from that coma. He’s brain dead. A fucking vegetable. Fugaku killed the love of my life. And Fugaku is going to pay. First with the death of his wife...and then the death of his eldest son. We are going to reveal those documents to the media. He’ll lose the Hokage title. And we’ll use you as collateral so Naruto and I can escape to Suna. But what Fugaku doesn’t know is we’ll keep you alive, yes. But as soon as Naruto and I are safe. Sasuke you’ll be the last to die.” 

“I told you to stop saying his name with your filthy fucking mouth! Naruto isn’t like you! You just manipulated him!” 

“You better wake up from this make believe world! Naruto killed your mother. This is the plan Naruto agreed too. He doesn’t care if you’re dead or alive! Why else do you think I’m here with you and he isn’t?! You don’t know him at all or what he's capable of.” 

Sasuke knew Naruto since they were five years old. He was the kid who brought everyone together. Sasuke still held the clear memory of Naruto holding up the orange kickball and all the kids leaving the playground equipment to swarm him. The sun in the galaxy that everyone revolved around. He was someone who protected his friends even it meant putting his own life at risk. Naruto was selfless...and Naruto loved Sasuke, and Sasuke loved Naruto. Shisui was lying. It was the only explanation. He was cyanide poison. 

Naruto wouldn’t willingly hurt Sasuke. Naruto was being manipulated by the adults once more. They were twisting him and bending him to their will. 

There was a chiming noise. Shisui’s ringtone went off on his phone. He flashed the phone to Sasuke. Across the screen was an incoming call from ‘ _Feral Child_ ’. Shisui answered the phone. He put a finger to his mouth as if signaling to Sasuke to be quiet before putting the call on speaker phone.

“Feral child! Naruto. Talk to me. Tell me is Mikoto dead?”

“Yes.”

“Did you put a bullet between the eyes like we talked about? Swift and painless.”

“Yes.”

Sasuke stopped breathing and his eyes widened. It was Naruto’s voice. As clear as if he was standing in the room with him. 

“Where are you?” Naruto asked. 

“I’m in the basement of the consignment shop.” 

“Okay. I’m coming over. Bye.”

“Oh wait. Don’t hang up Naruto. Not yet. Aren’t you going to ask me something?”

“Ask you what?”

“Who I chose to keep alive?”

“No. I told you it doesn’t matter.”

“Well...I’ll tell you anyways. I’ll tell you and then when you see me. You’ll have to kiss me. A kiss with tongue.”

“...”

“It’s Sasuke! I did it, Naruto! I knew you didn’t think I could kill Itachi. But I did...I killed him. I didn’t think I could...honestly I knew you knew, and that’s why I think you asked me if it would be better if you killed Itachi and I killed Sasuke. But...I was able to do it. So Sasuke is our collateral.”

There was a long pause on Naruto’s end. Sasuke’s eyes were straining. They were focusing on the time that flashed across the screen. The amount of minutes the phone call was taking. He watched the seconds increase. It was the only thing left that was keeping him sane. The seconds. He heard Naruto’s breathing. The pause continued. Shisui’s smile grew larger. Like a snake. A pederator. Shisui bore his black eyes into Sasuke’s face. An expression that said ‘ _told you so_ ’. 

Sasuke wanted to scream. He wanted to open his mouth and scream at Naruto. But he was paralyzed. He didn’t think he could even open his mouth let alone form words. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t possibly be true. Naruto killed Mikoto? He put a bullet through her head? She was gone? Sasuke felt hot tears rolling down his face. His mother was dead? His beautiful frail, sick mother? Sasuke clenched his jaw so tightly he thought his teeth were going to shatter and jawbone fracture. 

No...this can’t be...real. This is so fucked up.

“He’s there with you...isn’t he?” Naruto finally asked. Shattering the silence. Naruto wasn’t even saying Sasuke’s name instead using the pronoun game. It began to infuriate Sasuke. Because he suddenly realized where Naruto was going with the question, and that Shisui might have been right all along. 

And suddenly it felt as if Sasuke was transported back into the subaru with Itachi in the driver’s seat. He had re-experienced the car crash. The impact. The bruises. The lacerations. The whiplash. The barrage of shattered glass. His head slamming against the passenger window. Only instead of blacking out it was stuck on repeat. His body being thrown this way and that way. The glass cutting his skin. The bruises from the seatbelt and from his body being thrown about and slamming this way and that way. The lacerations. The whiplash. His skull slamming against the passenger window and shattering it to pieces. 

“Of course he is. Don’t you want to say hello to him? You’re on speaker phone,” Shisui answered happily. 

“Don’t be stupid. I already told you I didn’t care who was collateral. It could have been Itachi. Actually, I thought it was going to be Itachi. I already made peace with the fact that he’s going to die. Anyways, I’m on my way over. I want you with me when I call Fugaku.” 

“Oh...so you’re saying you finally want me?”

There was a disgusted sound from Naruto’s end followed by a clicking noise. Naruto hung up the phone. All that was heard was a long dial tone. It was the longest, coldest, sound Sasuke had ever experienced. Shisui threw his head back and chortled. The cold, maniacal, laughter filled the room once more. 

“Did you hear! I told you! It has to be from the horse’s mouth after all! But here we are ladies and gentlemen!” 

His mother was dead. His brother was dead. One by one. Soon he would die. Naruto was on his way. He began to hyperventilate. Tunnel vision. He entered a full blown panic attack and he screamed once more. It only increased Shisui's laughter. Sasuke’s blood ran cold. His eyes remained wide. He didn’t blink. His pupils constricted. His corneas became bloodshot. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn't think. He ceased to exist. Everything simply stopped.

*****

Sasuke didn’t know how much time passed. Shisui had been chatting incessantly the entire time. He didn’t stop. Sasuke had stopped listening to Shisui long ago. He focused his eyes on the only door in this windowless room. He was in the basement of the consignment shop. In downtown Konoha. Sasuke had to focus his attention on the door, and only the door. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Shisui, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at the rotting corpse of his brother. He couldn't.

No.

Sasuke was waiting for Naruto to come. He wanted to see what kind of expression Naruto would be wearing. He wanted an explanation. He wanted to see what kind of face Naruto would make when he saw Sasuke. When he saw Itachi. Only. There was still a small part of Sasuke that kept telling him this wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. Because Sasuke loved Naruto with every fiber of his being and he knew...Sasuke knew Naruto felt the same. There was no faking that. No way. 

There came a knock at the door. Sasuke seized up. He became as stiff as a board. He stopped breathing. He felt like he was on the verge of another panic attack. He wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t want to face Naruto. Not yet. Shisui had jumped up and was smiling. He continued chatting incessantly as he walked towards the door. 

“Ah! My feral child has come back to me~” Shisui spoke loudly as he unlocked the door and opened it. 

There was an explosion. 

The sound of a bullet being released from the barrel of a gun followed by an explosion of fireworks. Sasuke knew the difference between fireworks and a gunshots. Fireworks have a flatter sound and more of a pop pop popping noise. Whereas gunshots have a more clicking noise and booming sound. Sasuke watched the explosion of blood, and bone, and brain matter splatter explode like fireworks as Shisui’s head was blown to bits by a shotgun at point blank range. Sasuke watched as Shisui’s lifeless body fell backwards and collided hard against the floorboards. 

In an instant, in the blink of his eyes, the room flooded with police officers dressed head to toe in full riot gear. 

“Copy, we’re in. Suspect down,” one of the police officers spoke into a handheld radio. 

Sasuke watched as several police officers ran to Itachi’s lifeless body and rolled him over. Someone shouted for the EMT’s to enter. Sasuke’s eyes shifted back to the door and several EMT’s ran through the door. Holding medical gear. They slid to their knees on either side of his brother. Sasuke watched as they began working on his brother. He wanted to tell them that Itachi was dead. 

Several police officers rushed to Sasuke’s side. One police officer brought wire cutters out, and snapped the handcuffs off Sasuke’s wrist. He was freed. Another EMT began flashing a light in Sasuke’s eyes, while the other pulled Sasuke's winter jacket off. Sasuke looked away. His eyes focused back on the doorway. Sasuke was ready for Naruto to enter now. 

Something wasn’t right. Naruto was supposed to enter through that doorway. On the phone Naruto said he was on his way over. Sasuke was waiting. He was waiting for Naruto to come. But...he never did.


	48. Protege Moi

# Protège Moi 

 

An exasperation of disgust escaped Naruto’s lips as he immediately ended the phone call with Shisui. The phone screen nearly cracked he hit the end call button so hard. He physically felt his skin crawl. Could feel the hundreds of sickly-thin millipedes legs underneath the skin of his arms. The millipedes made their way up to his shoulders, their hundreds of legs carried their spindling-winding bodies down his chest, making a home in the pit of his stomach, where they festered. 

Naruto popped two more orange capsules. 30 milligrams each. He could feel the amphetamines coursing through his veins from his last dose. It kept him focused. Soon all senses will be heightened and he would be able to focus. Be able to concentrate. Just a little fix to even him out. 

The entire phone conversation made him nauseous. It was close. Too fucking close for comfort. Like barely clearing the train tracks as the train laid on its horn and flew by; screeching. Happiness like smoke filled his heart, however, when he tried to grab hold of it slipped through his fingers. Sasuke was alive. Only he heard everything. Naruto being on speaker phone made it more difficult. Guilt took a choke hold on Naruto. Throttling him. He wanted to tell Sasuke it was all a lie. 

He didn’t mean any of it. He was lying...he was fucking lying. He had to. There was no other way. Naruto thought he was going to blow the whole thing with one wrong inflection of speech. Almost kicked himself for how long he paused during the conversation. It was too long. He thought he gave it away. He just wanted Sasuke to live, and Shisui to die. 

He had to maintain the act. It was a hand made paper mache mask. He painstakingly donned. Naruto knew he had to stop Shisui the moment he told Naruto the plan involved killing Sasuke. Naruto couldn’t live in any world with the thought of Sasuke ceasing to exist. He wanted Sasuke to live above anything else. He loved him too much to let him die. 

Shisui's psyche was dissolving faster than cotton candy on the tongue. Only less sweet and more bitter. The only people Naruto wanted dead were those directly involved. Those included, but not limited to. Uchiha Itachi. Uchiha Shisui. And Uchiha Fugaku. Preferably in that order. Bang. Bang. Bang. They’d all fall down.

 

> ma·nip·u·late (verb) to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one's own advantage, control or influence a person or situation cleverly, unfairly, or unscrupulously.

 

Naruto went along with it, but all the while he was manipulating Shisui. He learned it from Zabuza. He learned it from Haku. It was a skill of survival. And he had practice. Oh did he have practice. A lot of practice. Naruto had manipulated everybody in his life. And this was the real test. It was life or death. The grand finale. Total mastery.

And it was all thanks to the adderall. To the amphetamines. It helped him focus. Helped him concentrate. 

The first part. 

Ensured Shisui was to kill Itachi. The inception started off as small seeds being implanted between the lines of Naruto’s words when he spoke to Shisui. He forced Shisui to question just how far he was willing to go to avenge Minato. Naruto stating he didn’t believe Shisui could kill Itachi. By the end. Naruto had Shisui believing he really could kill Itachi. A childish trick. 

The second part. 

Ensure keeping Sasuke alive. For collateral. Convincing Shisui of this was difficult and Naruto was on the verge of crossing boundaries he didn’t want to cross. But if it met saving Sasuke he’d do anything. 

Shisui was developing a sick obsession with Naruto. As the month passed and they worked on the plan Naruto sensed it. Looking into Shisui’s eyes he saw the desire. Shisui was to devour Naruto. Ravish him. Like the wolf devoured little red riding hood in the Grim fairy tale. 

It started with Shisui crawling into bed with Naruto. 

He felt an unknown hand, slipping under his pajama shirt, and gliding up his stomach. When Naruto woke up, and rolled onto his back, he saw the outline of Shisui. He had pinned Naruto down. Straddled him, and whispered Minato’s name in Naruto’s ear. Naruto resembled his father. Sure. The spitting image. And that was enough for Shisui’s deteriorating mind to blur the two and imprint Minato unto Naruto. 

“Get off me!”

“Get off...or get you off? You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“I told you everything about you makes my skin crawl!”

“What if I told you...I’d spare Sasuke. Keep him as collateral while we make our great escape? Would you let me continue just for tonight?”

“Fuck that. Like I’d make that gamble. Remember when you told me if I went to The Manor on Valentine’s Day you’d arrest Biwa and Danzo? What happened? I’m not stupid, Shisui. Fool me once shame on me.” 

“I guess I’ll just have to show you. Mhm? Prove it to you. Then you’ll see. Won’t cha? Then you’ll be all mine.” 

Shisui threw his head back and laughed. Naruto grew silent. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness. It frightened Naruto. He used this to implant another seed. Turned the tables. He never broke character. It was the role of the century. Naruto put on another mask. And the critics went ‘wow’. 

The third part. 

Telling Shisui the only person Naruto had ever loved was Sasuke. But to avenge Minato? He’d sacrifice Sasuke. Sacrifice them all. Make them all pay. Even if he had come to terms with Sasuke’s death. He will continue to love him. Mourn him. On some sick level Shisui was still tasked with protecting him. He was going to carry out Minato’s last orders to the grave and even to the after life. 

Naruto knew if he met Shisui in hell it’d be the same. There was no escaping. 

The plan.

Shisui would kill Itachi, just to prove to Naruto he could do it, and Shisui would spare Sasuke, just to show Naruto he could make him happy. In Shisui’s twisted-fucked-up mind there was a sprouting seed that Naruto would be a willing replacement for Minato if Sasuke was spared, and Naruto, well he encouraged this sick thought, and helped that seed blossom. 

It was a fucking gamble and Naruto was awful at gambling. Awful at Uno. Awful at dice games. But it worked. Sasuke was safe. Sasuke was alive. He was able to breathe normally now. Able to take the hand painted, paper mache mask off his face. And be his true self. At least for a little while. He was going to allow himself to be ugly. Inside and out. 

Things weren’t done. Not yet. There was still more to do. Much more. With shaky hands he dialed another phone number bringing the phone to his ear. The call connected. Naruto inhaled and then exhaled. 

“Detective Obito speaking.” 

“I have the location. They’re located in the basement of the consignment shop. I want Shisui shot dead. There can’t be any hesitation. You know Shisui’s reputation. As soon as he opens the door. He has to be taken down. Immediately. It’s the only way.”

“We’re on it. Do you know the status of Itachi and Sasuke?”

“Itachi is dead. Sasuke is alive.” 

“Chrissakes! And where is Mikoto?”

“I told you. She’s safe. She’s collateral. If you attempt to find us I will have her killed. The only person I cared about was Sasuke and he’s alive. Good-” 

“Naruto...wait! Tell us where you and Fugaku are! Don’t do anything reckless. Fugaku will step down as Hokage I’ll ensure that happens just-” 

“Goodbye, Obito. Thank you for saving Sasuke.” 

Naruto ended the phone call. He turned his cellphone off before they could trace it. The Uchiha police will take care of Shisui. Naruto made the phone call earlier to Obito. Giving him the heads up. In exchange for the information Naruto wanted Shisui dead. It was a gentlemen’s agreement. The only way Shisui would go down was by complete, and absolute, surprise. He’d go out in an explosion. Unfortunately, Naruto was going to miss it. He couldn’t have his cake and eat it too. 

There was a knock at the hotel door. 

Perfect timing. Everything was sliding into place. Naruto stood up and walked to the door. He quick peeked through the peephole. The guest of honor had arrived. The door opened. Fugaku stood before him. He looked as if he had been running. His cheeks red. Breathing heavily. Naruto glanced down the hallway. Fugaku appeared alone. At least nobody is on this floor ready to pounce and rip Naruto limb from limb. 

Not yet. Besides. Naruto wouldn’t let them. He’d kill them both before they drag him out alive. Fugaku and himself. A double homicide-suicide. It’d be a crime of passion. Naruto already ensured Haku with the rest. Set Mikoto free. Release the documents. Reveal the fate of Namikaze Minato. Show them all. 

Naruto didn’t trust Fugaku being completely alone, nevertheless, he stepped aside and Fugaku entered. Naruto closed and bolted the additional locks on the hotel door. It wasn’t enough to keep someone out, but at least it was enough of a warning, and that’s all Naruto needed to put a bullet in Fugaku and a bullet into himself. 

“Where is she?” Fugaku growled. 

“It’s a contingency plan. Exactly like I explained to you on the phone. I almost kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. It’s amazing what I can put my mind to when I’m on adderall. To think I almost went a year without amphetamines.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Mikoto. I know how much you love her. I only had to look at my own parents to find the answer. My father hated and despised me for killing my mother. I knew about it. I knew that he begged the doctors to save my mother and let me die. So...I think taking Mikoto was enough. It was enough to bring you here. Right, Fugaku?”

“Where are my sons?”

“Itachi is dead. Sasuke is alive...but you knew that would be the outcome. Didn’t you?”

“You piece of fucking shit. You’ll pay for this!” 

“If it makes you feel any better. I never intended on leaving this hotel alive...and I want you to know that you won’t be leaving alive either. So, why don’t I give you the grand tour. I know you saw the video. But why don’t we tour the penthouse suite in person. And then after. We’ll sit down and have a nice long talk.”

***** 

Sasuke had entered into a fugue state.

He forgot who he was, or what happened to him, or why it happened to him. He felt like a puppet with its strings cut. Laying helpless and alone on the stage. While the audience demanded to be entertained. There was a growing hysteria on the outskirts. Threatening blood. 

It felt like he was dreaming. He tried tricking himself into thinking he was sleeping. Because the reality was much too painful. His mind and body cracked in two. There was a fog over the real world. Everything was white and misty. He was being led into the emergency room. Someone was pushing him into a seated position on the hospital gurney. Someone began to clean the laceration on his head. 

He wasn’t thinking. There was something broken inside. His eyes were open and he was able to see but he wasn’t processing. His ears still had the ability to hear but he wasn’t listening. He had the ability to talk but remained tight lipped. 

His head filled up with noise. Radio waves. FM static. The noise grew louder and louder. 

Sasuke sat on the edge of the hospital gurney. Time sped up. Someone pressed fast-forward. The whole world began to jut forward. There he experienced the birth and death of galaxies over a millennia. Time became an abstract concept. The world continued moving forward without him and he remained in the past...he remained stuck. Left behind. Forgotten.

Until…

“Sasuke,” Obito said in a booming voice. Sasuke rolled his eyes lazily up. Peering through him. A strong hand rested on his shoulder and shook Sasuke. He didn’t answer. Didn’t respond. He wasn’t the one Sasuke wanted to talk to. 

“He has a concussion. We’re waiting to get him up for a CT scan,” a nurse responded. 

“Sasuke...hey...can you hear me. It’s about Naruto,” Obito continued. His voice was strained. There was a sense of urgency. The sound of Naruto’s beautiful name caused Sasuke to snap his head up to Obito. It was the magical words that freed Sasuke from the curse he was under.

“What about Naruto?” Sasuke asked in desperation. 

“We don’t know where Naruto is. Fugaku left to see him, and he didn’t tell us where he was meeting Naruto. Naruto has Mikoto, and if Fugaku didn’t do exactly as he was told...Mikoto will die.” 

“Naruto is alive?!” 

“What do you mean? Yes he’s alive, for now, he has your parents. This is a matter of life or death. Pay attention! Where do you think he is?” 

Sasuke’s mind was racing again. It was fragmented. He was trying to make sense of the world. Naruto was alive. Sasuke was almost certain...no...he had believed Naruto to be dead. He had a premonition that the police had killed Naruto when he entered the consignment shop. A vivid image of them blowing his head to bits with a sawed off shotgun appeared when Naruto never walked through the basement door. 

“What happened? Naruto said on the phone he was on his way?”

“On his way where?”

“To the consignment shop!” 

“Is that what he said? Did you misunderstand?”

“No! He said he was on his way over.”

“Oh. I see. Naruto lied. He called us and told us where you were. He was never going to go to the consignment shop.”

“He...called you?! What’s going on!”

“Naruto is going to kill Fugaku and then himself. So let me ask you again. Do you have any idea on where Naruto could be?”

Sasuke inhaled and held a hand over his mouth and nose. Holding his breath. That stupid fucking idiot. The number one most idiotic, half-wit, stupidly incompetent imbecile who has ever existed...ever. And he was in love with that idiot. That usuratonkachi. Fuck. Naruto had gotten himself into trouble again. Even though he’d promise. He fucking promised Sasuke he would tell him the next time he got into trouble. Sasuke had to tell Naruto he couldn’t lie when they were in a relationship. That was the first rule of being in a relationship, and while he was at it...he was going to tell Naruto they were, in fact, in a relationship. 

“Sasuke!”

“I-I...don’t know! All I know is his home, or the school dormitory...I don’t know!” 

“Detective...please. He sustained a significant head injury. His brain is probably all scrambled. Give him a minute.” 

“Ugh! We don’t have a fucking minute to spare! Don’t you understand?”

*****

Sasuke remained sitting on the hospital gurney. Waiting for a CT scan. Feeling stupid, and useless, and in the way. Feeling trapped. He wasn’t given a private room. Instead a curtain partition was placed up.

The sounds of the emergency room made for perfect background noise. He was thinking of where Naruto would have brought Fugaku. A place of significance for them. He tried to remember all the times they crossed paths. The elementary school yard. The taijutsu studio. City hall. None of them seemed like viable possibilities. All stupid answers.

‘ _Room 3707! It was always in room 3707. Every humiliating thing I had to do. It was filmed...all of it! I’m on that fucking video...everything he did to me...everything that happened to me, to us, that night is on that fucking video! And your goddamn father has it! Do you understand now, Sasuke?_ ’

The nurse opened up the curtain partition clipboard in hand. 

“Okay! It’s finally time for your CT scan. Oh…” her voice trailed off as she looked at the empty gurney before turning around to the rest of the emergency room in search of him.

*****

“Take your pants and boxers off,” Naruto demanded from the master bedroom doorway.

“Boy you better watch your mouth before I break your fucking jaw,” Fugaku growled in a low baritone. 

“What...is it humiliating? Hm. Interesting,” Naruto commented as he tilted his head to the side. Leaning up against the door and shrugging. 

“After I break your jaw I’ll break your fucking neck.” 

The shadows beneath Naruto’s eyes darkened. His face loomed in shadows. He continued staring back at Fugaku. Unflinching. He had all the power. Naruto eyed Fugaku up and down. The other man stood in the middle of the master bedroom. Fists clenched. Naruto smirked and pointed towards the nightstand. Fugaku turned to see an ipad. 

“Open it up. I have a surprise for you. You play my little game and Mikoto won’t be hurt. Otherwise. She’ll die.” 

Fugaku picked up the ipad and unlocked it. What he saw caused him to stiffen up. Clenched his jaw. It was live footage of Mikoto. Wearing only the day center gown. She was strapped to a chair. Arms bound behind her. Legs bound to either side of the chair’s legs. She was blindfolded. Gagged. And she was wet. Soaking wet. 

“As you can see...she isn’t doing so good. Can you see? She’s crying. She’s screaming. But nobody will hear her. She’s in a shed. A bucket of water was poured over her. What’s the temperature outside again? Mhm? Under these conditions frostbite can occur within thirty minutes. It’ll attack her fingers and toes first. She doesn’t need all ten fingers and toes.” 

“You piece of shit!” Fugaku screamed as he wiped around to glare at Naruto. 

“Dying from extremely cold temperatures...is not pretty. It’s slow, and painful. She’ll suffer. So. I’ll only tell you one more time. Take off your pants and boxers.”

Naruto watched with sick satisfaction as Fugaku began unbuckling his leather belt. He kicked off his Italian leather loafers, and unzipped his pants. He pulled them down and stepped out. One leg at a time. Only to Naruto’s surprise.

“Ah...you’re a brief man.” 

Fugaku flinched. He paused with his thumbs underneath the cotton fabric of his briefs. He pulled the briefs down and stepped out. Naruto stood back and looked at his flaccid cock, his saggy ballsack, and black pubic hair. He was trimmed and maintained. It surprised him. Fugaku’s face was flushed. It didn’t look right. Something was missing. He just couldn’t put his finger on it. 

“What was your favorite part of the video?” Naruto asked.

“What?”

“Did I stutter? I asked you. What was your favorite part of the video!” Naruto screamed. He realized what was missing. Fear. Fugaku wasn’t nearly as fearful and afraid and frightened as Naruto had been that night. 

“Go fuck yourself you faggot!”

Naruto pulled out a handgun. A Glock 41. He cocked it back, and pulled the trigger. He aimed a few inches to the left of Fugaku’s face. A warning shot. Fugaku flinched and dove down. The bullet shattered the dresser mirror and glass showered down. Fugaku’s body slammed against the white plush carpet. Ass up. Naruto watched as his ass muscles tightened as if holding the shit that was about to explode out his asshole. 

“I said what was your favorite part?”

“You getting shot you fucking faggot. Faggots shooting faggots.” 

“I’d thought you’d say that...so lets recreate that scene. From the top. Shall we?”

*****

Fugaku sat on the bench at the breakfast nook.

There was new furniture in the kitchen. It was sleek, it was shiny, it was new. Everything was remodeled. Instead of white cabinets they were stained black, complete with a matching black kitchen island, and matching black breakfast nook. The floor a smooth, glossy, wood. 

Naruto wondered how quickly they flipped the penthouse suite around before they started renting out the room again. A day? A week? A month? 

“Do you remember the dice game we played?” Naruto asked as he dropped three identical dice onto the table. They bounced up and rolled. “Ship, Captain, and Crew.” 

“Best two out of three. The winner of each round gets to shoot the loser...and the winner overall gets to kill the loser.” 

Naruto held the handgun in the air and his lips curled back into a cruel smile. He recalled Biwa’s smile, and he tried to mimic it.

*****

Sasuke reached room 3707 of the Twin Trees Hotel. Just when he raised his hand to pound on the door that’s when he heard it. A gunshot coming from inside, and Sasuke was locked out. His blood ran cold. He panicked. He screamed out. He slammed both fists up against the door. Beating them against the wood. Screaming out Naruto’s name.

“NARUTO! OPEN UP! LET ME IN! PLEASE!” 

Sasuke didn’t stop. He was stuck on repeat. He wasn’t going to stop until he broke down the door. It was deja vu. He wanted to break down the door and save Naruto before he turned and pulled the trigger on himself. There was a sound from the other side of the door. It was the sound of locks clicking free. The door opened and Naruto appeared. It wasn’t an illusion it was really him.

“Naruto!” 

“Sasuke?” Naruto answered in complete shock. Complete and utter disbelief. Eyes wide. Frenzied. Naruto was backing up slowly. Backing away from Sasuke. 

Sasuke ran to Naruto and wrapped his arms around the blonde. Happiness filling him. Engulfing him into an embrace. The impact caused Naruto to stumble backwards. He would have lost his balance, his footing, if not for Sasuke holding onto him. And he held on tight. Refusing to let go. Naruto shifted his cold, and callous, eyes to the side. They focused on the doorway of the kitchen, and what lay beyond. Naruto’s fingers tightened around the handle of the gun as Sasuke tightened his hold around Naruto. 

“You stupid fucking idiot! What have you done! What did you do?” Sasuke screamed. 

“How did you find me?”

“I listened. I listen to everything you tell me, usuratonkachi!” 

“You shouldn’t be here-”

“Shut up and kiss me!” Sasuke demanded. Pressing his lips up against Naruto’s. It felt like a millennia since he last did this. Christmas Day was too long ago. They had to make up for lost time. 

Everything happened so fast. It almost didn’t feel real. Naruto was stunned by Sasuke’s words. He had found Naruto. In a game of hide and seek. Sasuke won. The familiar feel of Sasuke’s mouth soothed Naruto and he found himself being drawn in. This wasn’t fantasy. This wasn’t a memory. It was real. Naruto kissed him back. He needed this. Wanted this. He missed Sasuke so much. He felt like he was on the verge of crying. 

Sasuke opened his mouth and Naruto’s tongue slipped inside. Just like the blonde to try and take control. Only. Sasuke wasn’t going to let him. Just when things were warming up there was a painful screech. An interruption. Like nails on a chalkboard it sent a shiver through his body. A familiar voice was screaming for help. 

“Sasuke! Help me! Please!” Fugaku screamed. 

It caused Sasuke to pull away. He tried looking at Naruto but the blonde purposefully looked away. Avoided his eyes. Sasuke ran towards the sound of his father’s pleas. It led him to the kitchen. From behind he heard Naruto close the hotel door, heard the locks shifting back into place, and heard Naruto’s footsteps trailing behind. 

“D-Dad!” Sasuke cried out. It was a shock to find his father in such a state. 

His father was naked from the waist down. Wearing only a white button-up shirt. He was on his back. Clutching his right shoulder. Blood red poured down from a laceration. The bullet had clipped his shoulder. Ripped the flesh apart on his shoulder. 

“No...no...no. We’re not done yet Fugaku. I told you best 2 out of 3...and so far we’ve only completed one round,” Naruto explained as he walked deeper into the kitchen. His eyes dropping to see Fugaku squirming around on the kitchen floor like the maggot he is. It was a pathetic sight. But it wasn’t enough. 

“Naruto what the fuck are you doing? Isn’t it enough already? Just stop!” Sasuke cried out. 

The blonde leaned up against the kitchen island and shrugged his shoulders. He raised the handgun and itched his forehead with the butt of the gun. Fugaku’s cries brought Naruto back to reality. The ugliness rushed back to the surface. 

“What am I doing? Are you blind or just stupid? Can’t you see for yourself?” Naruto asked coldly holding his arms out wide. He continued shifting his gaze around. Refusing to look at Sasuke. 

“You being here is fucking up everything for me, Sasuke. I can’t stop. Not now. Not when I’ve come this far.” 

“He kidnapped your mother...you have to call the police. She needs medical attention. He doused her in water and tied her up in a goddamn shed! She’s going to freeze to death!” Fugaku screamed to his son.

“And you killed my father,” Naruto answered with a shrug. Tit-for-tat. 

“Naruto...please just let Mikoto go. She’s innocent in all of this...she’s sick. Please! Just let her go!”

“She’s innocent, mhm? I wonder...then what was I? Are you saying I wasn’t innocent?” Naruto scoffed. Tightening his grip on the gun. His eyes trailed the edge of the gun. Thinking if this is what Sasuke thought all along it was better to just end things. Bring the barrel of the gun to his own head and pull the trigger. Blow his own brains out in front of Sasuke. A beautiful red parting gift. 

“You were innocent Naruto, and you think that Fugaku ruined you, but he didn’t. At least not all the way. Not to me. I still love you okay? I still love every part of you and nothing will change that! To me you’re perfect. I believe you. You’re justified. Everything you did up until now is justifiable!” 

“Sasuke! I fucking told you not to be obsessed with this faggot, and look what he’s done! Look at what he did to me..to your mother,” Fugaku screamed. 

“Shut up, Fugaku!” Sasuke screamed back.

Sasuke stood up and walked closer and closer to Naruto. He was still avoiding his gaze. Sasuke stopped a few feet in front of Naruto. The blonde focused his eyes on Sasuke’s converses. He remained quiet. Waiting for Sasuke to say his peace. 

“Naruto, listen. Killing Fugaku is easy, and maybe it’ll feel good for a little while. But it won’t last. Don’t let Fugaku off the hook that easily. He needs to pay. He needs to rot in jail for the rest of his life. That’s his punishment. Let him sit in a small, windowless, cage for the rest of his miserable life! That’s what he deserves!”

Naruto finally brought his attention to Sasuke. He looked at his face. Taking it in. Sasuke’s face was cut up. Bandaged. Swollen. A purplish-blue bruise surrounded his right eye. There was a small cut underneath his right eye. Sasuke was still beautiful. His hair was wild. Strands of jet coal framed his face. He wanted to reach out and pull Sasuke to him. He immediately looked away. Hating himself more. 

“Don’t…don’t look away from me! Please.” Sasuke demanded. 

Naruto turned his attention back to Sasuke. For a moment they held each others gazes in silence. They read each other’s emotions perfectly. The sun and the moon came together as one. Yin and yang. They were better together. Only devastation happened when they were apart. Sasuke wanted Naruto to understand and accept this. They belong together forever. Only Naruto was the first to speak. 

“Sasuke, do you really love me?”

“Yes! More than anything else in this world.”

“Do you believe in fate?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe in luck?”

“Yes..”

“Mhm. Let’s make a deal then.”

“What kind of deal?”

“We’re going to play a game of Ship, Captain, and Crew. Best 2 out of 3. If I win you let me kill Fugaku...and if you win I’ll admit defeat. Deal?”

“Naruto...I don’t want to lose you. Not again. Not ever. Please...if you kill Fugaku you’re going to be thrown in jail. We belong together. So just let us be together.”

“Oh-no. I won’t end up in jail. I won’t let that happen, because after I kill Fugaku I’m going to turn the gun on myself.” 

“Are you fucking crazy? If you die I’ll die!”

“Mhm. If you win we’ll be together forever. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?” 

Sasuke looked deep into Naruto’s soul. What he saw was pitch blackness. A black hole. Sasuke saw the inescapable emptiness in Naruto’s chest. A never ending hunger. Sasuke witnessed the many things Naruto did to try and fill that emptiness. The drugs. The sex. The blood. The murder. Nothing was working. He felt Naruto’s desperation as he was grasping at straws. 

If nothing in the world could fill it. His thoughts turned to suicide. Sasuke refused to allow it. He was going to save Naruto from himself. He was going to protect Naruto from himself. The only way Sasuke knew how was to enter the madness Naruto had created and pull him back. Sasuke was confident. They were victims of fate, yes. It was different. Sasuke believed in fate and he believed in luck. 

Sasuke and Naruto belonged together and they were going to be together for years, and decades. He knew he was going to win. He had to win. It was the only reason why he accepted. 

“Okay...I accept.” 

“Mhm. Let’s begin.”


	49. Cats in the Cradle

#  Cats in the Cradle 

 

“Your father visited me while I was at the psychiatric hospital. Did you know?” Naruto spoke slyly. Sasuke shook his head as he joined Naruto at the breakfast nook. 

Naruto picked up the three red dice and began tossing them up and down. Two black dice lay forgotten on the table. It was the same colored dice from that night. His voice low. A subtle smile pulling the corners of his mouth. He was straddling the back of the chair, hugging the back with one hand, as if needing the extra support to keep himself grounded. Focused. The blonde rolled his eyes down to the ill-favored, disgraced, police commissioner. Now it was Naruto who held the power. He held the conch shell. Metaphorically. The gun lay on the table. 

The subtle smile Naruto wore turned vicious. A predator's smile. The mirror image of Biwa Juzo’s when he mutilated Naruto’s face. He was still being haunted by the deadman. So much that he still avoided mirrors. Avoided his own reflection because every time he looked at himself in the mirror he saw Juzo smiling back. And Naruto felt himself still being covered in cum, and urine, and sweat, and blood. The ugliness highlighted his features. Naruto was ugly on the outside, and inside he felt dead. He was the personification of a corpse flower. The ugliest flower, carrying with him the smell of rotting flesh. 

Fugaku was forced to kneel on his knees on the wooden floor of the kitchen. His wrists tied behind his back with nylon cord. Naruto carefully sorted through the aisle of nylon cord. He wanted to get the exact kind that was used on him. Naruto had Haku tie his wrists behind his back in the store. And he found it. 

Naruto forced Sasuke to tie, and retie, Fugaku’s hands with the same nylon cord. Tighter and tighter. Naruto wanted the cord to chaft, dig in, break skin. Restrict his movements. Naruto wanted Fugaku to feel exactly like what Naruto felt that night.

Fugaku was quiet. In his mouth a ball gag. Black rubber. Red ball. It forced his mouth open. Naruto had to venture into a sex toy shop to find the exact one. He couldn’t be sure looking online. Had to test them out himself. He found the exact replica in a shop called Toys'R'N'Us. To be sure Naruto placed the red ball into his own mouth. His tongue pressed up against the rubber. The same one Juzo used at The Manor. When Naruto tried the ball gag on in the sex toy shop the memory ripped through him. Yes. It was this one. The replica was now in Fugaku’s mouth. Naruto took the pleasure in forcing it into Fugaku's mouth.

“It’s where he showed me the video, and threatened me. If I didn’t make Minato step down as Hokage and have Minato elect Fugaku he was going to reveal the video,” Naruto threw his head back and laughed, “Oh. What I had to do to accomplish that. But that wasn’t all.” 

He shook his head in disbelief. As if even saying it was ridiculous. Unfathomable. It was all true everything Fugaku did and everything Naruto did at the Guys and Dolls strip club. It wasn't enough for Fugaku. He wasn't going to stop until Naruto was dead. 

“Since the beginning. It was Fugaku. It was all Fugaku. He ordered Haku and Zabuza to target me. He was going to pimp me out. The goal was to get me hooked on Callisto. I was 15. I didn’t believe Haku when he told me. It all made sense though. Why Fugaku wanted those documents back and why he wanted Haku dead. Zabuza was the bottom bitch wasn’t he, Fugaku? And for what? Look at you now. Nothing more than a maggot.”

Sasuke couldn’t take his eyes off Naruto. His heart beat irregular and his stomach churned. Naruto looked unwell. His hygiene was neglected. Sasuke didn’t know when the last time he bathed. There were dark circles under his eyes. Ran deep. Sasuke wanted to pull Naruto into the bathroom. Wanted to scrub him clean and give him warm clothes that came fresh out the dryer. He wanted to tuck him into bed and hold him close all night. Keep him safe. Protect him from everyone in the world.

“When was the last time you had a decent night of sleep?” Sasuke interrupted. 

“Christmas Eve,” Naruto answered automatically. He then cursed himself for being distracted. Sasuke’s heart skipped a beat from the memory. 

Naruto’s hair was unruly. His clothes worn out and tight to his skin. As if he hadn’t changed in a while. Thinner. He lost weight in his face. Or maybe he was just getting older. Sasuke realized he missed his birthday. He never wanted to miss another birthday. Sasuke began taking mental notes on all the ways he was going to celebrate Naruto’s eighteenth birthday this year. 

“What are you rolling on right now?” Sasuke asked Naruto. 

It brought back memories. When Sasuke followed Naruto from campus all the way to downtown Konoha. Behind the consignment shop where he saw Kisame and Naruto. Interrupting a drug deal. It was the same thing. Naruto now looked beyond strung out. Naruto was under the influence of something and had been for days maybe even weeks. The blonde turned to Sasuke and scowled. He was pouting. Sasuke saw it. A flash of a childlike innocence, and then it was gone. Covered up in mania. 

“Adderall. How else do you think I’m on to able to pull this off? Think I’d go back to Callisto? Fuck that. Shit ruined me.” Naruto snorted. 

“You look like shit.”

“I look like shit? The pot calling the kettle black?” Naruto answered with a quirked eyebrow. They caught each other’s eyes. He felt a laugh trying to escape but he squashed it. Choked it back and furrowed his eyebrows. Sasuke was doing it again. 

“You’re not even supposed to be here. Roll the damn dice, stupid Sasuke!” Naruto snarled as he tossed all three red dice at Sasuke and shoved the remaining two black dice at him. Indicating he needed to roll all five dice with a wave of his hand. 

“I missed you. Maybe if you. Oh I don’t know. Called me back, or texted me back, or even emailed me. It wouldn’t make me so desperate,” Sasuke snarled back. He grabbed all five dice with both hands and angrily tossed them onto the table without a second thought. It sounded like rain on a hot tin roof as the dice bounced up and down. 

2\. 6. 5. 1. 3.

“I don’t even know the rules!” Sasuke continued as he looked at the dice. His own eyebrows furrowing in frustration. Naruto looked at his first roll. Beginners luck. He rolled his eyes. 

“You need to roll a 6 for the Ship, a 5 for the Captain, and a 4 for the Crew. Only you have to roll the 6 first. You can’t have a captain, or crew without the ship.” 

“Perfect. Looks like I got my ship and captain first roll. Now what?” Sasuke continued. 

“You set the 6 and 5 to the side and roll the remaining dice. You only get three rolls. If you get the Ship, Captain, and Crew you roll the additional dice and add up all the dice for the treasure, or final score.”

“Mhm.”

Sasuke rolled a 2, 4, 6. He smirked and pushed the 4 to the side. Sasuke eyed the 6. 

“Can I keep the 6 and roll just the one die?”

“Uh...yeah.”

Sasuke rolled again. It was a 5. He had instantly mastered the rules of this dice game. 

“So now you add up all the dice. For a total of 26.” 

Sasuke smiled smugly and watched as Naruto carefully gathered the dice up. He watched his long slender fingers wrap around, shake, and drop the dice. Sasuke took his eyes up to Naruto’s face. His expression was unreadable. Naruto was wearing another mask. Sasuke sensed it. He was hiding. Sasuke looked down at the dice. 6. 3. 5. 3. 6. 

“Naruto...you never gave me the chance to say it earlier, but, Happy New Year.” 

He shot Sasuke a reproachful look and ignored him as he moved the two dice off to the side. Rolled again. 1. 2. 1. Naruto angrily picked up all three dice and rolled again. 3. 2. 2.

“I win the first round,” Sasuke spoke. He was beginning to relax, whereas, Naruto was experiencing the exact opposite. 

It was happening again. Juzo’s hands reached out from the darkness and pulled Naruto back. The world around him morphed and he was thrown to the past. He was sitting with his bare ass on the bench of the breakfast nook. Soaking wet. Wearing the stained white button-up shirt of his school uniform. Eyes looking down at his final roll. Haku was sitting perpendicular, and across sat Zabuza and Konohamaru. He was trapped. Back to playing the russian roulette game with Juzo. Naruto looked out the corner of his eye and saw the camcorder positioned on the tripod. Recording everything. 

‘ _Ah...too bad Naruto...you have zero points_ ,’ Juzo’s taunting voice filled Naruto’s head. He couldn't move. Sasuke grabbed hold of Naruto’s shoulder and shook him. Pulling him back to the present.

“Naruto...are you okay?” Sasuke asked his voice saturated with concern. 

Naruto’s bottom lip trembled and he crazily looked around the kitchen. No. No. No! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go down. Naruto was filled with panic and dread. He felt like running away and hiding. He felt like he was ten years old again and witnessing that man get his head blown off at the Chihiro Train Station. He felt completely powerless. He shook his head and screamed.

“Roll again Sasuke!” 

Sasuke gathered up all five dice and rolled. Round two. Score 1 to 0. The dice stopped moving. 1. 5. 3. 6. 5. Sasuke pushed the two needed dice to the side, it was becoming a habit, muscle memory, and he rolled again. 3. 1. 1. Shit. Nothing. Sasuke rolled one last time. 5. 5. 5. Nothing. Zero points. Naruto perked up and quickly grabbed all five dice. 

“Naruto...I missed you. Can you at least talk to me while we play?” Sasuke asked. Naruto ignored him shaking the dice fiercely with both palms. Believing the longer he shook the higher his chances were of rolling the dice he needed. 

“I...I tried to tell you about me. In our dorm room. When you told me you were gay. I wanted to tell you I was too. I...just wanted you to kiss me really. I was a coward. After all you, said you knew when you kissed Haku. I regret saying no. When you asked me if I wanted you to kiss me. The answer was yes. I wanted you to kiss me,” Sasuke confessed. 

Naruto dropped the dice in his confusion. He was being absorbed in Sasuke’s words. 6. 2. 5. 3. 1. 

“That’s what you’re thinking about? This is what you want to talk about?” Naruto said defensively. Dismissing Sasuke with a flip of his hand. He pushed the two dice off to the side. 

“Yes. Because I want you to kiss me. Right now. I won the first round. Aren’t you even a little happy to see me? If you are. Kiss me. Now.” Sasuke said seriously.

Naruto turned his attention back to Sasuke. His eyes focused on Sasuke’s swollen, soft, lips. He hesitated. His attention turned to Fugaku who was bound, and gagged, kneeling half-naked on the kitchen floor. Sasuke followed Naruto’s attention to his father. The look Fugaku gave was of pure disgust. As if he had just mistakenly drank spoiled milk and was on the verge of violently vomiting the curdled liquid. The look someone had when coming home only to find the family dog had liquid diarrhea all over the house. Sasuke almost wanted to stop him. Naruto had a cruel, vicious, intention. He was going to kiss Sasuke not because he wanted too but because he wanted Fugaku to watch. And Sasuke. He allowed it. Because he longed for it. 

The blonde stood up, bringing one knee to rest on the chair as he leaned over, and wrapped one arm around Sasuke’s neck. He brought his mouth hungrily down. He was greeted warmly. Lips parted. Tongues met in the middle. It was wet. It was familiar and for a moment Naruto lost himself. Sasuke reached out and grabbed a fist full of Naruto’s shirt and pulled him closer. Naruto’s fingers went to the crotch of Sasuke’s jeans. Moving his hand over the bulge and exciting him. 

Sasuke moaned against Naruto’s mouth and it immediately caused Naruto to come back to his senses and pull away. Sasuke was flushed. His lips felt cold. Lonely. Needing Naruto. Fugaku screamed against the gag. Naruto smirked in satisfaction. 

“Fuck. Naruto,” Sasuke exhaled. 

Naruto picked up the three dice for his second roll. 3. 1. 6. Nothing. He rolled again. 1. 5. 4. Naruto smiled. It was superlative. Kissing Sasuke had injected liquid luck into him. 

“Final score 21.”

They were even. Both with one win. Sasuke picked up the dice. Only he didn't roll. He was stalling for time. He couldn’t take his eyes from Naruto. Imprinting the blonde into his memory. 

“On Christmas Eve...did you know?” Sasuke asked. He wasn’t being descriptive. He knew, Naruto knew, what Sasuke was referring too. Did Naruto know about Fugaku on Christmas Eve? 

“Yes. Sakura gave me the cellphone and I called Haku, and he told me. I didn’t believe him, well, not really. Not until I met him on Christmas Day...and I knew I was going to kill him.” 

“You spent Christmas with Haku?!” Sasuke snapped angrily, ignoring the parts about Fugaku. He felt betrayed. Like a jilted lover. He hated Haku. From the beginning. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Naruto speaking to Haku was worse, but continuing to see him, and spending time with him was even more devastating. 

“You went home to your family...and my father was in a goddamn coma that you’re father put him in!” Naruto shouted back matching Sasuke’s emotional level. Only Naruto was more justified. He was going to win this argument and Sasuke knew it. 

“You went home to a father who pimped me out and a brother who sold me drugs! Merry fucking Christmas to me, 'ey Sasuke?” Naruto continued.

“Naruto that isn’t fair!”

“Roll the goddamn dice Sasuke!”

“I didn’t fucking know because you didn’t fucking tell me! Stop pulling this shit and then getting mad at me for not knowing! It's not healthy for us.” 

The dice rolled and came to a halt. 1. 3. 6. 6. 4. Sasuke pushed the two dice off to the side and looked back up at Naruto. He was gripping the back of the chair tightly with both hands. Blue eyes staring at the table. Through the table. He was somewhere in the past. Trapped. Again. 

“I purposely avoided you. When you were under house arrest and had to remain in the dorm after 7pm. I avoided you…” Sasuke confessed. 

Naruto brought his blue eyes up. They were devoid of any light or shimmer. A matte finish. Turquoise stones that Sasuke could lose himself in if he stared for too long.

“I was afraid. I was afraid we would cross boundaries and you’d hate me. So I stayed away…”

“I know,” Naruto confessed, “That’s why I kept moving closer to you even though you kept backing away from me.” 

Sasuke rolled the dice again. His second roll. 3. 5. 1. He had his Ship, Captain, and Ship. He decided to chance it and roll the remaining dice. 6. 3. A total of…

“24,” Naruto answered. He added the dice up in an instant. Like rain man. 

“You were my first kiss,” Sasuke murmured. 

“I know. I was there,” Naruto murmured back remember them in the coat closet at Kiba’s. A vivid memory of them being lanky, and awkward, and thirteen. Being thirteen was enough of a description to highlight everything that had happened. The sloppy inexperienced kiss. Sasuke pressing up against Naruto and knocking him over. Exiting the closet to see all their friends gathered and staring back. 

“No. I kissed you when we were both ten,” Sasuke confessed. Naruto gathered the dice in his hands and they locked eyes. Naruto’s eyebrows raising. He didn’t know that. Naruto gave Sasuke a look that told him to explain, because he wanted to hear more. 

“The time I came to your house when you were absent from school and I spent the night. I kissed you when you were sleeping,” Sasuke explained. Naruto blinked and looked away sheepishly. He remembered crying in Sasuke’s arms until he passed out, and waking up to Sasuke cuddled up alongside him.

“You seem to do that a lot. Just like when you kissed me goodbye when I was sleeping.”

“Yeah, only, you woke up.” 

Naruto rolled the dice. 6. 3. 6. 4. 1. A smile lit a small fire inside Naruto. It was a cruel memory. Yet it was also the first time when Naruto knew exactly how Sasuke felt. Stealing a kiss when he was sleeping, and when Naruto woke up. Using the kiss goodbye as a guise to kiss him again. The kiss ended too early. It left a chill. To this day Naruto felt it running down his spine and leaving his stomach hollow and empty. They never should have stopped that bitter winter morning. 

“I missed you...I don’t want us to be separated anymore. Nothing good comes from us being a part! So just hurry up and lose already,” Sasuke demanded angrily. 

Naruto rolled the three dice. 1. 2. 4. Shit. A ship and crew but no captain. He was afraid to roll again. He had to beat 24. A nearly perfect score. The chances of him winning were... If he lost...if he lost. Naruto felt water welling up in his eyes. He clutched the dice tightly. He was refusing to roll. Instead being the one to stall for time. He wanted to hurt Sasuke. 

“I...I fucked Haku, and the same night, I crawled into bed with you and messed around with you. Actually I fucked Haku without a condom all the time. Don’t you remember? I gave you syphilis,” Naruto spoke bitterly. He didn’t want to lose...because he didn’t want to live. Sasuke reeled back as if he was slapped. Taking Naruto’s words as a personal attack. His anger boiling over. 

“Why are you saying this? Are you trying to hurt me…?! It won't work! I still love you, usuratonkachi!” Sasuke yelled. No. Naruto was stalling, and he wasn't about to get wrapped up in Naruto's lies. The odds were against Naruto. He was going to lose and Sasuke was going to win. Naruto stood up. Sasuke reached out and grabbed hold of Naruto’s wrist. Naruto clung fiercely to the remaining three dice.

“Roll the dice, Naruto!” Sasuke demanded. It was the same voice of authority Sasuke used when demanding Naruto hand over the plastic baggie of Callisto and Adderall. 

“No! I’m not playing this stupid game anymore! You weren’t even supposed to be here!” Naruto snarled. 

He attempted to wretch his hand free from Sasuke’s iron-tight grasp. Naruto was weaker because he hadn’t eaten in days, and hadn’t slept in days, and was living off of coffee, hate, and adderall. Sasuke pulled him forward. He wanted to pull him into a hug. Naruto’s body bumped into the table and it was nearly knocked over. Something heavy and loaded fell to the floor, forgotten, in the tussle. Naruto jerked his body backwards and his shoulder muscles strained, and threatened to dislocate, he jerked back, and away. It was no use. He couldn’t escape Sasuke. 

“It was your idea! You’re the one who wanted to play this stupid game! You’re the one who made the rules to the bet. You can’t stop now. You have to play to the end. Now roll the dice, Uzumaki!” 

“No!” Naruto screamed and slapped Sasuke across the face. Sasuke stood up, swung his free arm back, fists clenched, and punched Naruto in the face. Perfect form. Like hitting a baseball out of the park. Home run. It split his lip open. Sasuke threw his entire weight into it, head-on, close contact and punched him again. 

“You’re not going to die! You’re going to live! Now roll the dice!”

Naruto dropped the dice. 6. 3. 4. He lost. He still couldn't roll the stupid captain.

No. He wouldn’t accept it. This was his plan. He was the game master. The mastermind. His world. He was god. He...There was a clicking noise. The sound of a gun being cocked. Naruto wasn’t holding the gun, and Sasuke wasn’t holding the gun. Process of elimination. Naruto turned his head slowly to see Fugaku. Looming over them. He had gotten out of the nylon cord. Naruto and Sasuke were too involved in each other to notice Fugaku. He pulled the ball gag out. And was in possession of the gun. It was cocked and loaded and pointed...

At Sasuke. He let go of Naruto’s wrist, and both arms fell, lifelessly, to his side. 

“Free Mikoto or I’ll shoot Sasuke,” Fugaku growled his cold, disseminating, eyes focusing on the blonde. 

Sasuke could feel the barrel of the gun pressing up against the back of his skull. 

“If Sasuke dies...Mikoto dies,” Naruto rebutted only his voice quivered. It was a bluff. Naruto didn’t want Sasuke to die. 

“I’m sorry Naruto. It looks like I win,” Sasuke commented. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and gave Sasuke a look of complete horror. He know he fucking lost. He didn’t have to point it out especially when Fugaku held a gun to his head. It enraged Naruto. The gun. Sasuke’s nonchalance. Losing. The whole situation. It was a nightmare. It was a goddamn nightmare and he wanted to wake up!

“You weren’t even supposed to be here!” Naruto cried out to Sasuke. 

Sasuke flashed Naruto a smile. A reassuring smile. It caused Naruto to hold his breath. It was a beautiful smile. Everybody always commented on Naruto’s smile, but they never got to experience Sasuke’s heart-wrenching, tear-forming, alluring smile. He felt it. Naruto felt Sasuke’s love for him, in that look, in that smile. Sasuke didn’t smile a lot. Only on a few rare occasions. Yet those rare occasions. He smiled for Naruto. Only for Naruto. And Naruto wanted to keep it that way forever. 

Naruto found himself smiling back. It melted Sasuke. It was the same hundred-watt smiled he craved. The smile that shown bright and put the sun to shame. Sasuke loved that smile. Loved Uzumaki Naruto. 

Fugaku was done with witnessing this faggot, fuck-scene, in front of him. He had the power. He had the gun. He slammed the butt of the gun across Sasuke’s head. A force that cracked Sasuke’s skull. It was so loud Naruto was sure Sasuke was shot. Blood spurted out dramatically. Fugaku shoved him to the kitchen floor and began kicking Sasuke repeatedly in the rib cage. 

“No son of mine is going to be a faggot! It should have been you to die and Itachi should have lived!” 

Sasuke’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he blacked out. 

Naruto remained still. Smile gone. Eyes locking to Fugaku as he finally stopped curb stopping his youngest son. Fugaku turned the barrel of the gun to Naruto. 

“I guess it’s back to being just you and me, mhm?” Naruto spoke. “Only...it’s hard to take you seriously when your cock and balls are out. You looked better in the ball gag. Why don’t you put it back on.”

Fugaku lowered the gun, aiming for Naruto's thigh, and pulled the trigger. 

*****

Sasuke woke up laying in a pool of his own blood. His vision was blurry. He lost hearing in one ear. His head felt swollen, and full, like at any minute it was going to detonate. He lifted his head and it felt so heavy. It threatened to crush his neck. Every breath he took sent sharp pain throughout his chest. Every time he sucked in oxygen it sent his lungs ablaze. His thoughts turned to Naruto and he pushed himself up on rocky arms. It caused blood to rush to his head and he felt dizzy. He felt his eyes rolling in the back of his head, but he was fighting it. He cursed and screamed at himself to not lose consciousness. And he didn't. 

The kitchen was empty. The only evidence that something happened was the breakfast nook in complete disarray. It was quiet. Sasuke stumbled into a standing position. Blood matted his hair, stained the side of his face, his neck, and shirt. Standing up his eyes rolled down to the kitchen floor. He saw drops of blood leading out. He had a sickening flashback to the library. Naruto bleeding out in the library. He followed the trail like breadcrumbs. Through the living room, past the foyer, until he reached the master bedroom. 

He heard muffled screaming, squeaking bed springs, heavy breathing, and rhythmic movements through the open door. The screaming stopped...followed by monstrous laughter. He wanted to vomit.

What Sasuke saw was indescribable. His mind couldn’t comprehend just how inhumane, depraved, and sadistic someone could be. What he saw was brutality. Something out of a snuff movie. Fugaku had Naruto on the bed. There was a belt looped around Naruto's neck and Fugaku was pulling it. Naruto's pants and underwear pulled off and discarded on the floor. The ball gag that was once in Fugaku’s mouth was forced into Naruto’s. The blonde’s eyes were rolled in the back of his head. His face blue. Fugaku was sodomizing Naruto. Only. Naruto lay motionless. His body limp. He wasn’t breathing. Fugaku continued uninterrupted. Seemingly uncaring if the blonde was dead or alive. He wasn’t stopping. 

Sasuke flew at his father. He grabbed the lamp that was on the nightstand, pulling the cord out of the wall, he smashed it up against his skull. Fugaku screamed. It stopped him momentarily and he pulled himself from inside Naruto. Something inside Naruto had ruptured because blood began pouring out his anus. 

It was there when he saw it. The gun. Sasuke reached for it. He aimed the gun at his father’s face just as he turned around to see Sasuke. A cruel smile spread Fugaku’s lips. This man wasn’t his father. He was the personification of evil. Naruto was right. Fugaku wasn’t going to stop until Naruto was dead. Fugaku’s lips curled and he opened his mouth to say something but Sasuke refused to allow him to say anything else ever again. He pulled the trigger and shot him at point blank range. 

*****

“911?! Help! He isn’t breathing! I don’t know what to do!” Sasuke screamed into the receiver. 

“Tell me...tell me how to give CPR! He’s going to die!” 

He had pulled Naruto off the bed, unfastened the belt from his neck, and pulled the ball gag from his mouth. Naruto's eyes were closed. His lips stained blue. He wasn’t breathing. Sasuke lifted Naruto’s head back and opened his mouth. He pressed his mouth to his and blew up his lungs like balloons. He began doing chest compressions just like the emergency dispatcher instructed. Over and over. He had to keep the flow of oxygen through his body. If Naruto couldn’t breathe on his own then Sasuke was going to breathe for him. 

“We need an ambulance! He’s hurt. We’re at the Twin Leaves Hotel room 3707!” Sasuke screamed into the receiver. 

Sasuke didn’t stop performing CPR even when the paramedics arrived. The penthouse suite was soon swarmed in police officers dressed in tactical riot gear, and paramedics carrying in stretchers, medical gear, and a defibrillator. Someone was pulling Sasuke away from Naruto’s lifeless body and soon Naruto was being swarmed with paramedics. 

“No! I don’t want to leave him!” Sasuke screamed. He didn’t want to be separated from Naruto. Never again. 

“Sasuke! What happened to your father?!” it was Obito. He was pulling Sasuke out from the master bedroom. 

“He...sodomized him. Fugaku sodomized him. He was going to kill him so I...I shot him. It was the only way to stop him.”

“What did you say?!”

“I shot him. I killed him!”

“Who did this to you?”

“Fugaku!” 

Naruto was being carried out on a stretcher. There was a paramedic on top the stretcher doing chest compressions. Naruto was naked. He was completely naked. He had burns on the skin of his chest from the paramedics attempts at jump starting his heart. Sasuke shoved past Obito and ran to Naruto. He was still lifeless. Limp. Unmoving. A paramedic was injecting Naruto with a serum as they carried Naruto out the door and into the hallway. 

Sasuke reached out for Naruto’s hand that fell over the side of the stretcher. 

“He’s not responding,” the paramedic said. “We’re bringing him to the hospital, but, he’s not responding.”

“No! That’s impossible! He can’t die...he can’t! He-” Sasuke screamed and trailed off. He seized up. Sasuke's eyes rolled back into his skull leaving only the whites of his cornea.

Sasuke’s brain was running on cortisol, adrenaline, and norephrine. His skull was cracked. The effects were wearing off. It was too much. It was too much for him to comprehend. The neurotransmitters wore off. There was a surge of electricity in Sasuke’s brain. It highlighted and activated every neuron at once. His body hit the floor. His arms, and legs, and head jerked in all directions. Like a squashed spider. All neurons firing at once over and over and over again. Sasuke’s mouth opened and he was soon foaming. Choking. His body still twisting, and jerking, and moving on it's own. 

“He’s having a seizure! He sustained a head wound, we need help over here!”


	50. Song to Say Goodbye

#  Song to Say Goodbye 

 

> pur·ga·to·ry (noun) an intermediate state after death for expiatory purification, a place or state of temporary suffering or misery

 

The sound of dripping water woke Naruto up.

It was the sound just before the torrential downpour. The air was humid and coated everything in wet. A few raindrops fell from the sky in warning. Plopping against asphalt. Water dripped on Naruto’s forehead. Ancient Chinese water torture. He groaned and opened his eyes. They adjusted to the darkness. It was nighttime. He was laying on his back, on the asphalt of the road, staring upwards. The ink-stained sky illuminated in lit stars. Only they did not give off any light and appeared as if painted in an afterthought. A thick opaque fog covered the ground making everything even more distraught and spectral. It was the opening credits of a horror movie. 

He pushed himself up, and looked at the glass vestibule of the Chihiro bus stop. The glass had water droplets rolling down. It loomed over him like a gravestone. Everything was still. The street lamp flickered. On. Off. On. Off. Desperately needing a new light bulb. Standing up he looked around. Something was off-putting. It felt like the world was upside down and he was right side up. 

The street lamp illuminated a small sphere in light. Everything else was pitch black. Naruto had a sinking feeling that this was the world. Nothing lay beyond the darkness. It shrouded him in panic. 

“Hello?” Naruto called out into the darkness. It felt stupid, vulnerable, to call out, yet felt even stupider, foolish, to not. His voice echoed back. 

Naruto moved into the darkness, his eyes dilated, arms stretched out, wading through the emptiness. Nothing deterred him and he kept moving forward. It was there when he saw a light illuminating in the distance. He ran towards the light and stopped when he reached the source. He was back at the Chihiro bus stop. Panic ensued. He went in a complete circle.

“Hello?!” Naruto screamed again. 

His distraught voice echoed and taunted back at him. He began running into the darkness once more. Even though he stopped screaming his voice still bounced and echoed back. Ugly masked faces loomed from the shadows and laughed maniacally at him as he ran. He began looking frantically for an escape. No matter what direction he took off in, left, right, up, down, he found himself back under the same pale, merciless, street lamp light. It was useless. He screamed again. 

“Hello? Is anyone there?! Please! Anybody!” 

Naruto was alone. He kept on like that for hours, days, weeks. In total isolation. Screaming and running around in circles in the black, in the darkness, in the cold. A madman. His fate similar to Sisyphus. Naruto too had cheated death. Once before. Here at the Chihiro bus stop he bled out and died. He remembered. He was revived. Electricity jump started his heart and he was given a blood transfusion. Liters of donor blood to replenish the dried out sack of skin he called his body. 

_'Oh. I’m dead.'_

The realization swept through him like cyanide poisoning. There was unimaginable pain in his gut. The pain gripped him in insurmountable pain he had the thought if he had disemboweled himself the pain would stop. It began breaking down his psyche. He felt his brain physically shrink, and important parts of his brain began to rot and die off. Naruto rolled into the fetal position and began screaming, until his vocal cords were shred, and his voice box destroyed. 

He remembered now. Naruto was no longer at the Chihiro bus stop. He was back in the kitchen of room 3707. Only it was empty. Everything was the same. The breakfast nook. The kitchen island. Everything was clean and new and in mint condition. Naruto stood in the kitchen looking around. This was the after kitchen. Black cabinets. Black kitchen island. Black breakfast nook. 

Naruto remembered being shot and collapsing to the kitchen floor. The bullet pierced his thigh only...it never exited. He could still feel it. The pain in his left thigh. The bullet missed the femoral artery, but shattered his femur bone. A comminuted fracture. He could feel the splintered off bone pierce his skin and move around in places where bone was never supposed to go. It was so fucking painful. More painful than having his throat slit, and more painful than being shot in the shoulder. He was screaming and Fugaku was laughing. 

“JUST FUCKING KILL ME ALREADY!” Naruto screamed. He wanted to die. Fuck the dice game. Fuck the bet. Fuck the rules. He wanted the pain to stop. Begged for death. 

Sasuke was unconscious on the kitchen floor. Sasuke’s body was making jerking, movements, as he was rocked with a grand mal seizure. It was lasting for three minutes. White foam filled his mouth and rolled down. He was making choking, gagging noises. Naruto was covered in an opaque shadow of a monster. 

“It was never about sex. It was about power,” Yuhi Kurenai spoke in her therapeutic voice. 

Naruto found himself sitting in the familiar, oversized armchair, tucked securely in the corner. He was closest to the door. The only decor was a print of Monet's _Poppies_ hanging up on the wall. It was supposed to invoke calmness and stillness but Naruto felt the complete opposite. The painting was superimposed. Naruto saw his mother in the straw hat and he was the child walking alongside her in the poppy field. 

Kurenai sat across from him on the loveseat, giving him a reassuring smile. She held in her hands a notepad and pen. Their session had began. 

“Kurenai!” Naruto cried out as if he had crawled out of the desert and happened upon a cold spring. 

He was crying. Long, fat, tears rolled down his cheeks. His face turning the color of heat exhaustion in the middle of summer. His hands went to rub his eyes and face, but he couldn’t stop the neverending flow of sadness and exhaustion and pain masquerading as tears. He was ripped asunder and pain demanded to be felt and he couldn’t turn it off. He felt his throat close up as he choked out the words. 

“I just wanted him to kill me...but he ended up fucking me! He did the same thing Juzo did to me! I just want everything to end!”

Naruto was screaming in anguish and aggro and it didn’t stop. It was something that went deep within his very being. It changed the chemistry in his brain. He was violated, and choked, and whipped, and gagged, and had his throat slashed, and was fucked bloody raw, sodomized, used as a cum dumpster, urinated on, forced to take two cocks at a time, three cocks at a time, his intestines fell out his asshole, he was shot not once but twice, and forced to make a kiddie smut film. Naruto was smeared in so many ways it was all he could do. The cathartic release was not enough. It went further. He needed more. 

Kurenai was unable to listen anymore. She reigned Naruto back and pulled him to the present. She grounded him and kept him stabilized. 

“You are a survivor. It wasn’t your fault-”

“Fuck you! I never said it was! I...just wanted him to kill me!” 

“Why are you here, Naruto?” 

Naruto hiccuped and looked up. She was staring at him. He looked around the room and swallowed. He knew he wasn’t at the psychiatric hospital. Just like he knew he wasn’t at room 3707, and he wasn’t at the Chihiro bus stop...he was…? 

“Because I’m dead!”

“No you’re not.”

“Wh-what? Yes I am! I died…!” 

Naruto was stubborn and held steadfast to his beliefs. He shook his head as Kurenai explained. 

“Oxygen deprivation isn’t enough to kill you...someone precious to you saved you. Someone gave you CPR until the paramedics arrived. Another shocked your heart and pumped you full of norepinephrine. You were brought to the hospital and Tsunade took you into surgery to repair your broken leg. You’re just sleeping.”

“Isn’t this hell?” 

“No. We’re inside your mind right now. You conjured me up. You’re currently at the hospital.” 

“Then why am I here...why don’t I just wake up?”

“Isn’t that the question you should be answering?” 

“I don’t want to wake up. There’s nothing left for me. Where am I supposed to return to?”

“You’ll go back to the psychiatric hospital.”

“No...I’ll stand trial. I’ll go to prison! What I did was wrong. I know that…I don’t want to live with what I did, what was done to me.” 

“You are not alone. You still have your friends. You still have people who love-”

“Sakura stabbed me, and I manipulated Shikamaru so much he barely looks at me anymore, and I’ve ignored every attempt at communication from Kiba. My father is dead...my mother is dead. I have nobody. I’m better of dead...I wanted to die...why didn’t I die!?”

“Because you were saved. Sasuke saved you.”

“What...no! If that’s true -then he saw me- he saw what became of me! He’ll hate me. He’ll never want to look at me again, or talk to me! And I don’t blame him I hate myself. There’s so much hate inside me...I-”

Naruto was entering the early stages of a panic attack. He wanted to peel the flesh off his bones. His skin crawled with insects causing goosebumps to form. He could still feel Fugaku all over him, could feel Fugaku on top of him, and could feel Fugaku inside him. He was doubled over and vomiting into the wastebasket the sensation hit him so hard. His whole back arched like a feline cat as he retched. His nostrils burned, his throat burned, and his ears were ringing. Rust, and bile, and mucus, and millipedes,, and coffee grounds, and disgust and hatred spewed out from his throat. It filled the wastebasket. 

“Naruto...my sweet child. You deserve life more than anyone else in the world. You are a beautiful, kind-hearted soul. I know this. Why? Because. What really happened with Mikoto?”

Kurenai was kneeling in front of him. Her soft hand went from his forehead until she was cupping his cheek. Naruto stopped vomiting and looked down at her crimson eyes. Her face was soft and gentle. He lowered the wastebasket and Kurenai immediately took it and placed it away. The smell was vile and putrid. Naruto felt better. He didn’t have to strain his memory. It filled him.

Naruto visited Mikoto twice a week, every week, all of January. She was sick most of the time, and would often refer to Naruto as Minato. She told wonderful stories about Kushina and Minato. It hurt, but Naruto was a masochist and wanted more. Hearing school day stories about his parents, about his mother, it felt intrusive, wrong, especially since Minato refused to speak of Kushina, let alone divulge stories from his school days. But Naruto wanted to hear all of it in explicit detail. Naruto found himself visiting her more and more with the sole purpose of hearing more about his parents. 

Mikoto and Kushina were best friends until they stopped being friends. There was a disconnect. Mikoto’s sickness never allowed her to explain why. Only Naruto had an educated guess. Minato and Fugaku ran for Hokage. Minato was elected. Fugaku was not. Later. Kushina gave birth, and died. Mikoto and Kushina stopped being friends simply because Kushina died from complications during childbirth. 

From the start Naruto’s intentions were never to hurt her...let alone kill her. He had already killed one mother, and he wasn’t going to kill another. 

On their last visit he told her...what Fugaku did to him, and she cried. Mikoto didn’t call him a liar, or lash out, or try to make excuses. An ultimatum was given. Naruto told her she was either going to go with him willingly, or he was going to make a scene and take her by force. She went with him willingly. She was only in the shed for a little while. It had to look real. It wasn’t a live feed it was a carefully scripted, directed, video that looped. 

She was to remain with Haku until the morning, and then released.

“Naruto. I want you to wake up, please.”

“I can’t...there’s nothing left.”

“Sasuke is waiting for you. Even if nothing else. He is your friend.”

“He’ll hate me.”

“Bullshit. He loves you. You are his most precious friend. Sasuke broke down your bedroom door, your dormitory door, and your hotel door. If you don’t want him to chase you down to hell...you need to wake up.”

Naruto felt himself blushing. His cheeks warmed as blood rushed to the surface. He covered his mouth in embarrassment. Sasuke struggled with his own internal turmoil when it came to Naruto and won. They never seemed to get the timing right. Naruto was never in his right-mind. His laughter and charisma were defense mechanisms. He wanted people to like him and fed off the attention. It all felt superficial. He felt afraid because he thought it was physically impossible to make a real connection with someone else.

Until Sasuke. He was Naruto’s first bond. 

From the beginning Sasuke was always pounding on his door and demanding to be let in. When he was ten years old. Naruto refused to leave his room because he felt afraid. There was no adult forcing Naruto to leave his room, and Minato was content with allowing Naruto to remain closed off in his room forever. Naruto tried to picture the excuse Minato must have provided for the school during those weeks.

“Please excuse him for the day it’s just the way the trauma makes him.” 

Sasuke appeared and pounded on his door calling out Naruto’s name, and Naruto opened it, slowly at first, and then all at once. Sasuke hurdled past all the barriers Naruto had put up and reached him and grabbed his hand pulling him back into reality. Naruto willingly walked hand-in-hand with Sasuke, because with Sasuke, he didn’t feel alone. He felt safe. Being with Sasuke felt like he was finally at home. 

The friday night before Haku and Naruto entered room 3707. Sasuke called. Naruto could have ignored it, and it would have been easier to ignore it. Hit the red cancel button and forward Sasuke to voicemail. Naruto answered it and promised Sasuke he would return to him, and he did...and Sasuke? He kept following him. He didn’t leave Naruto alone. It was something Naruto longed for and fought against at the same time. Cognitive dissonance. 

Even after Naruto returned to school. It was painful. Sasuke was so vicious. So cold. He was completely justifiable. Everything Naruto put him through if the tables were turned Naruto wouldn’t be so forgiven; so merciful. Naruto purposely minimized his presence in Sasuke’s life. He wanted to keep his distance for fear of retraumatizing him. 

Sasuke eventually couldn’t leave him alone anymore, and Naruto continued to be drawn to him. A magnetic force. Naruto tried to pinpoint when Sasuke reverted to his old self. Ah. When he followed Naruto all the way from Konoha Art Museum to the Twin Leaves hotel, interrupting, an impromptu meeting with Itachi. Sasuke invited Naruto back to his dorm...and he went to his dorm again and again and again.

Naruto had full intentions of leaving Sasuke Christmas Eve. He turned his phone off and locked himself up in his dormitory. Naruto reluctantly called Shisui to come stitch him up. Gritted his teeth and tried to sop up the blood that dripped down his chest. 

Sakura stabbed him once in the shoulder. She was like a machine and plunged the knife down a second time, and without a second thought he caught it, with both hands, and managed to wrestle the knife away from her. Upon seeing Naruto in such a state she screamed. She returned to her senses and returned to the Sakura who weaseled his discharge date out of her mother just so she could escort Naruto back to campus. Naruto told Sakura they were even. He still loved and cared about her and this wouldn’t change anything. Made Sakura promise she wouldn’t tell anyone, especially Sasuke, and Naruto returned to his dorm. 

Sasuke appeared outside his dormitory. Banging on the door with such force Naruto thought it was going to fly off its hinges. Even still. Naruto refused to open the door. He continued to be still, quiet, believing Sasuke would give up and leave. He didn’t. Sasuke unlocked the door and entered. He found Naruto, and was on his way to becoming the world champion of hide and seek...and then... 

Sasuke appeared outside room 3707. 

Naruto loved Sasuke so much. He covered his mouth and began crying again. The tears were falling because Naruto acknowledged just how much Sasuke loved him back. He felt it. Sasuke’s love for him was pure and genuine. In that moment everything turned into a blinding light. It engulfed him. He felt himself floating in a prism of achromatic light. And then he was gone. 

Sometimes…there are no happy endings. Just abrupt, insufferable, periods at the end of a sentence.

*****

The vital signs monitor was beeping in a consistent rhythm and it lulled Sasuke to sleep. The dark-haired boy was resting his head on the bed, curled up around Naruto’s lifeless hand. The machine kept track of Naruto’s heart rate, his blood pressure, his oxygen saturation, his respiration, and body temperature. It meant that Naruto was alive. It’s been thirteen days and Naruto remained sleeping. Like sleeping beauty despite this no matter how many times Sasuke kissed him he didn’t wake up. Believe him. He’s tried. The curse couldn’t be broken.

Naruto’s beautiful brain was fine. No brain damage. There was no medical explanation for his self-induced coma. He simply did not wake up. The social worker was notified, and brought in. She stood there all sympathetic and docile as she completed a psychological interview. Sasuke waited on bated breath as she hypothesized it was because of the severe, repeated, trauma he experienced. His brain simply shut down as the only means to protect him. Everything powered down and the only energy output went to the basic functioning to sustain life. Breathing and heart rate. She provided no timeline on when Naruto should wake up. 

Someone was shaking Sasuke awake from a nightmare, and he woke up startled, a small cry escaping his mouth. His head was bandaged with white gauze, and he was dressed in the same matching hospital gown as Naruto. It tied closed behind him. Thick hospital socks that bunched around the ankles, and as much as he begged for underwear it still hadn’t arrived. 

“Sasuke. Why don’t you go to your bed and sleep. I mean you made such a big fuss I moved everything in here so you can share the same room as Naruto with the promise that you’d rest,” Tsunade chastised, and pointed a finger at the opposite end of the room where Sasuke’s gurney was crammed.

Sasuke shook his head no, throwing her a look of disdain, as if he couldn’t believe she’d even suggest such a thing. Ridiculous. What he wanted was to share the same hospital gurney as Naruto. Tsunade scowled at his stubbornness. It was certainly going to cause him further damage, and longer healing times, if he didn’t listen to her. 

“Chrissakes you had brain surgery!” 

“I’m afraid he’s going to wake up and I won’t be here,” Sasuke confessed in a raspy voice. 

“Kid. You’re in the same room. You’re going to be the first person he sees when he wakes up! Now go to bed. It’s 2 o’clock in the morning.”

“Why are you awake?”

“I live here kid, haven’t you noticed? I’m Chief of Surgery. I’m now his legal guardian. I just got the phone call. Minato’s last will and testimony has been enacted. Everything transferred to Naruto.” 

Sasuke felt the chill in Tsunade’s voice as it dropped. He sucked in a breath and held it. Minato was no longer a part of the world of the living. He died the same day Naruto was rushed to the hospital. Naruto was brought in suffering from oxygen deprivation from being choked with a belt, a shattered femur bone as a result of being shot, and internal bleeding from being sodomized. Sasuke had a fevered dream that Minato extended his life unto Naruto, subsequently, saving him, bestowing him the greatest gift. Life. Now all he wanted was that dream to become reality. 

Sasuke’s eyes flickered to the television in the room. He turned it on once or twice over the past thirteen days, man’s curiosity was a powerful force not easily deterred, and immediately regretted it. Everything was revealed. There was a before and there was an after.

Before. The media painted Naruto as a depraved psychopath who had gotten a taste of murder and wanted more. They called for his public execution. Then all was revealed. It must have been Haku. He followed through with his promise to Naruto. The documents were handed over to the public. It was the biggest scandal that opened up a can of worms and sent tremor after tremor in the political world. The black widow spider web that connected Shimura Danzo and Uchiha Fugaku to Uzumaki Naruto, connected to the child prostitution ring at the Twin Leaves hotel, connected to The Manor, connected to the manufacturing and distribution of Callisto on the streets of Konoha were revealed. 

After. Naruto was depicted as something out of an Allen Ginsberg poem. Everything was carefully sliced and smeared onto slides before being carefully observed through a microscope. Sasuke exhaled painfully focusing his attention on the sleeping beauty blonde. Sasuke wanted to know the blonde’s fate. 

“Are...they going to charge him? Arrest him and take him away from me?”

“The DA will cut him a deal. Shisui killed Itachi. And it is unclear on who killed Shimura Danzo. Mikoto wasn’t harmed. Yet they never did find the bodies of Uchiha Nako nor Uchiha Taiko. Naruto will be brought up on accessory charges, and kidnapping charges. Although Mikoto refused to say she was kidnapped, so maybe not that one, but he’ll be brought up on conspiracy charges -but given what happened to him- I don’t know what judge -or jury- is going to sentence him to prison.”

Tsunade, dressed in a white lab coat, and stethoscope around her neck, grabbed Naruto’s chart from the foot of his bed. She began reading the nurses notes from the last shift. Her thoughts shifted to the late Yondaime. Minato had tragically passed away in multi-organ failure. He was brain dead. His body went septic, and his heart gave out. Tsunade was surprised to find Minato entrusted guardianship of Naruto to her. Although truth be told she would have stepped up irregardless. She should have stepped in years ago. But her lover, friend, and child have all been, and will always be, the hospital. 

“It isn’t fair. Fugaku should be dead. I shot him...and he lived! He was less than a foot away and I still missed a vital spot?! Fugaku is awake and on the mend and Naruto won’t even wake up. Tell me in what world is that okay? I couldn’t protect him. I couldn’t even protect him from my own father.”

“Fugaku may be alive, but he’s in prison. Solitary confinement. He won’t hurt you, or Naruto, or anyone else. Fugaku is exactly where he belongs. Alone with himself, his thoughts, and his reflections.” 

Sasuke squeezed Naruto’s hand even tighter. His fingers were so cold it was as if he was holding onto icicles with bare heads. 

Sasuke was told he had a brain clot caused by his father splitting his skull open. He was connected to his own IV, and was lucky enough to have his catheter removed yesterday. He couldn’t stand having to piss in baggies anymore and threatened he’d pull it out if it wasn’t removed. Sasuke glanced at the piss bag that was connected to Naruto. He grew even more enraged with his father, and never did he wish death upon someone as he did his own father. This was probably how Naruto felt. He bent over. His shoulders trembling. He couldn’t stop himself from crying. 

“How...will he ever forgive me? My father did this to him, everything, and then...he destroyed him in every way. So how will he ever be able to look at me again? I couldn’t protect him. I couldn’t do anything for him. I…”

Sasuke couldn't finish the confession his voice cracked and trailed off. He was overridden with insurmountable guilt. It left him emotionally unstable whenever he thought of it, and drove him to tears when he spoke about it, and he devolved into a blubbering, hysterical mess. It felt as if he was a passerby witnessing a tragic rape and murder, and although he had his cellphone in hand, he did not call for help, did not intervene, and watched the crime take place. It destroyed him. On every second of every day over the last thirteen days. The longer Naruto didn't wake up the worse he was psychologically.

“Sasuke. You saved his life. You stopped Fugaku. And I hate to say it, but Fugaku alive guarantees Naruto staying out of prison. He’ll probably be sentenced back to the psychiatric hospital. Naruto will get the help he needs, and he’ll be safe and sound.” 

“I just don’t want him to leave my side!” Sasuke screamed. 

“You need to think about what is best for Naruto. He isn’t well. He’s sick, Sasuke. He co-conspired and planned out this whole attack, and from your testimony, he was ready to kill himself at the end. The safest place Naruto needs to be in this world is inside that psychiatric hospital and under Kurenai’s care, with you waiting for him.” 

Sasuke hiccuped. She was right. He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want Naruto to leave his side. He didn’t want to discuss it right now. It felt exhausted on every level. He glanced at Tsunade from over his shoulder. 

“I’m sleeping right here tonight.” 

“Fine, at least crawl in bed with him so you're more comfortable.” 

Sasuke was already crawling on top the hospital gurney before Tsunade could finish her sentence. He wheeled his IV pole closer. He looked at Naruto’s left leg. It was in a full caste, and elevated upwards in a sling. Naruto was looking at anywhere from three to six months of treatment complete with physical therapy. Tsunade shook her head, smiling, and left the two alone, sliding, the door closed behind her. 

He curled himself around Naruto just like he did when they were ten years old. He pushed himself up, hovering above. He had to be sure, absolutely sure, and he kissed Naruto once more. Pressing his lips as gently as a small breeze in summertime. The blonde didn’t stir. Nothing. 

He pulled back and Sasuke took in Naruto. The blonde looked younger as if years had been shaved off his face. The whisker scars had healed and were fading against his skin. They looked faint, but still noticeable. Locks of his blonde hair fell over his face. To Sasuke, Naruto was the most beautiful creation in the world. More beautiful and perfect than the statue of David, more serene and breathtaking than the Sistine Chapel, and he completely and irrevocably captivated Sasuke more than Mona Lisa’s smile. Naruto was Beethoven’s Fur Elise, Mozart’s Requiem, and Bach’s Hungarian Dance. He was Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. He was a Pablo Neruda poem. He was his Naruto. 

And he loved him more than anything in this world. Sasuke made a vow to protect, to love, and cherish Naruto until death do them part. 

Sasuke lay on his side, sharing the same pillow as Naruto. He continued staring into his face. He looked peaceful. He wondered what Naruto was dreaming about, and wished him the happiest of dreams. Sasuke thread his hand with Naruto’s. His eyelids were so heavy he was unable to keep them open any longer and deep sleep welcomed him like spring welcomes the rain.

*****

Sasuke was awaken by an alarm sounding off.

It was as distressing as fingernails to a chalkboard, a squeaky wheel that needs greasing, a poorly played violin. It vibrated his bones and shook the nerves in his teeth. He opened his eyes and they adjusted to the hospital room. Naruto’s face illuminated in front of him. Remnants of sleep clung to him and he turned his head towards the source. He wanted to smash it to bits for disturbing him. 

It was Naruto’s vital machine sounding the alarm. The world crashed down. Naruto was entering cardiac arrest. He was flatlining. He remained static. His blood pressure was dropping. His heart rate dropping. His breathing dropping. Everything collapsed until it was nothing more than a rigid line across the screen. Sasuke began panicking. Internal sirens, like a tornado warning, went off. He began shaking Naruto. 

“No. No. No. No. NO!”

Everything was happening fast. Almost too fast to comprehend. The world was moving fast-forward and Sasuke was moving in slow-motion. The hospital was filled with three nurses, two nurses pushed a crash cart, the third nurse was pulling Sasuke from the hospital gurney, followed by Tsunade running into the room. Her heels clicked loudly against floor. She was barking out orders while all Sasuke could do was scream. 

“NO! NO! NO! He can’t die...HE CAN’T!”

Naruto’s hospital gown was pulled off revealing the smooth muscles of his chest, and a board was placed under his back. One nurse began doing chest compressions. While the other nurse began to fire up the crash cart. Tsunade held a syringe in one hand, and the other took out the IV fluid line out, and injected Naruto. Sasuke was screaming, begging, pleading with Tsunade to please save Naruto’s life. The medical staff all worked like wind-up dolls, methodical, professionals. It gave Sasuke some relief. 

“This can’t be happening...he can’t die...Tsunade!” 

There was a flash of anxiety across Tsunade’s face as she picked up the paddles of the defibrillator. An uncertainty and fear that all doctors had. Of impending death. Enough to make them step back from their God complex and make them humble. A clear gel was smeared on the bottoms of each paddle and Tsunade placed one on the right of the sternum just below the clavicle, and the other is centred lateral to the normal cardiac apex. The machine was charged and Sasuke watched as electricity shot through Naruto’s entire body. He jolted up and down.

It didn’t work. He remained flatlined. The loud beeping noise of his impending death was deafening. 

“Push more epinephrine! Charge to 200!” Tsunade barked orders.

Sasuke’s world began to concave, collapsing all around him. Two security guards had entered the room and Tsunade was barking orders for them to restrain Sasuke, and they did. The third nurse began to assist in the attempted revival. Naruto was jolted again. Sasuke witnessed Naruto’s body fly several inches up, and off, the hospital gurney before falling back down on top the board. 

“You can’t die! Do you hear me Uzumaki Naruto!” Sasuke was screaming. Praying that his voice reached him. 

The sound of the flatline continued just like the internal siren grew louder. Signaling catastrophe. A premonition. Naruto was shocked a third time. This time it left red scorch marks on his flesh. Naruto’s entire body jerked and fell back down. Lifeless. There was a deafening silence among the occupants in the hospital room when Tsunade stepped backwards. She dropped the paddles and her eyes looked to the vital machine. Flatline. The loud noise pierced their souls. 

“Why are you stopping?” Sasuke screamed.

“Tsunade…” a nurse called out. 

“Time of death-” Tsunade spoke her voice quivering. 

The nurse closest to the clock on the wall turned around to stare up. Dark shadows covered her face as her eyes rolled up the clock hands. The seconds hand appeared to pause. Time came to a grinding halt. 

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!” Sasuke screamed. 

Tsunade turned around and grabbed another syringe that was on the crash cart. She bit the cap off with her mouth and spat it out on the floor, before plunging the needle down in Naruto’s chest. The needle vanished inside Naruto. Piercing his heart. It happened so fast. The dose of adrenaline directly to his heart jump started the rhythm as if it was the key turning the ignition. The vital machine began to beep rhythmically again. The once static lines began to go up and down like the mountain tops of Machu Picchu. 

Naruto’s eyes opened to reveal bloodshot corneas and maniac blue eyes. They were the eyes of someone who had floated between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Caught somewhere in the middle. Eyes that had went on a hundred year journey in search of something he had all along. He shot upright, his blonde hair electrified in every direction. He was gasping for air. It sounded painful. Every gasping breath. Naruto was coughing and desperately trying to breathe. Wheezing and sputtering. It was as if he was suffering from pertussis. As if he was going to be struggling to breathe for the rest of his life.

It was Lazarus rising from the dead, and it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I may do an epilogue chapter in the future if ya'll want. Thank you so much for the support throughout this journey.


	51. Epilogue: Summer Overture

> **Ep·i·logue** ( _noun_ ) a section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened, a final or concluding act or event.

 

# Summer Overture

 

Sasuke heard the sound of Naruto’s vital machine flatlining. Thirty five decibels in his ear. The sound was loud and raucous, and it vibrated through his body hitting him like a pinched nerve, and encapsulating him in that hellish hiccup in time. Over and over and over again. A brief moment of time in that hospital room where Naruto was legally dead. Even though it was barely thirty seconds it felt like eons. 

He experienced a world without Naruto and he was on the cusp of suicide or homicide. Neither were an option because neither brought him back. In those thirty seconds, he traveled through the nine circles of hell, found Naruto, and dragged him back to the land of the living...but he still heard the vital machine flatlining. As if his descent into hell wasn’t enough to bring Naruto back to life. It was so loud and deafening it set his teeth on edge. 

The inescapable haunting sound plunged him back into a sea of intense, debilitating, emotions that threatened to break down his psyche. 

He woke up screaming, “NO! NO! NO! He can’t die...HE CAN’T!” 

He felt sick and nauseous and everything spun into focus. It was nighttime, and there was a full moon out. Everything was bathed in the pale glow in the remnants of the sun’s reflection. He heard the clackety-clack sound of the train against the tracks outside his apartment. The train whisleted as it passed through the intersection. It vibrated his whole apartment on the outskirts of town. The hum of the train that used to comfort him now caused him to wake up trapped in that infinite moment of thinking Naruto was dead. 

He had to get his bearings straight. He wasn’t in the hospital. He wasn’t seventeen years old. And Naruto wasn’t dead. He just had to make absolutely sure.

He pushed himself up in his bed and looked out the window. It was open, the blinds pulled up, and the curtains pushed back. The air wasn’t moving. There was no breeze. The temperature still hovered around seventy-eight degrees. It was the middle of July and ten days before his twenty-first birthday. It was the hottest summer on record. So dry and arid the grass turned brown, the lake shrank, and shoreline rescinded. The air was suffocating and thick like living inside a preheated oven. Everything hung heavy. He was drenched in his own sweat and it was difficult to breathe.

He inhaled and exhaled loudly through his nose. 

He looked at his oscillating pedestal fan. It was unmoving. He looked at the digital clock on his dresser. It was blank. He checked his cell phone that was still attached to the charger and the battery read 47%.

He lost power. Again. It was either a blackout or he forgot to pay the electricity bill. Both were equally plausible. Most likely he forgot to pay the electricity bill. Although he’d like to believe otherwise. 

Sasuke pushed himself out of bed and moved through his open door. He walked the three feet until he stood outside of Naruto’s room. He hesitated. The door was slightly ajar. He peeked through the few inches into his bedroom, and saw the outline of his sleeping form. He had to make sure he was breathing. He couldn’t tell from this angle. Naruto was sleeping on his stomach his head facing the window. He could have easily been dead. Sasuke pushed the door open. The door hinges squealed like a butchered pig, and Sasuke’s weight against the floor caused the loose floorboards to groan like an old man standing up. 

“S’ske?” Naruto asked sleepily rolling over to face him. Sasuke exhaled in relief. He was alive. “What are you doing?” Naruto lifted himself up. Sasuke shifted his weight. 

“I...had that nightmare again...the one where you were dead. I needed to make sure...you were...alive,” Sasuke explained his voice barely above a whisper. 

His eyes raked over Naruto’s sleepy appearance. In these brief moments between sleep and consciousness Naruto looked young. Innocent. Untouched. Complete. Whole. Medium-length hair the color of a field of sunflowers pushed off in every direction. Eyes the color of the aegean sea illuminated and shimmered against the glow of the moon. He was dressed in a tank top and boxers and slept on top his comforter set. The air was even more insufferable in Naruto’s room and weighed heavy on them. 

“I’m okay,” Naruto reassured and offered his endearing smile. “Do you want to sleep next to me?” Naruto was careful with his choice of words. Even now he was maintaining his boundaries. 

“Are...are you sure?” Sasuke asked hesitantly. The answer is obviously yes. He wanted to sleep next to Naruto. To curl up beside him and pretend that nothing bad happened to them. Even in this blistering heat he’d gladly suffer heat stroke if it meant cuddling up next to him. He’d pretend they were ten years old again and had a do-over, and this time around they’d do things differently, this time around they’d do things right. 

It was Naruto’s idea to remain as friends, and he implemented strict boundaries. Sasuke agreed, of course, but he was so frightened of breaking the rules he had to make sure over every little ‘bend’ in the rules.

Shortly after Naruto was revived, during his hospital stay, he suffered a psychotic break. He experienced gastrointestinal distress, flashbacks of the traumatic events he endured, hallucinations, delusional thinking, and a complete break down in his mental capacity. He floated in and out of consciousness as if he was in that one nursery rhyme where life is but a dream. 

When Naruto came to, and he came back to his senses, everytime Sasuke appeared in front of him it sent the blonde into hysterics. Fugaku had traumatized him so severely he became infantile whenever Sasuke was around. And for the longest time he wouldn’t allow Sasuke to touch him, because...because every time he did, Naruto would end up dry heaving until he actually began vomiting. Naruto explained he could still feel Fugaku, on him, against him, and inside him. 

It was such a visceral feeling it made Sasuke’s skin crawl and he felt disgusted with himself. He avoided mirrors for weeks and months afterwards. Every time he looked in the mirror he saw Fugaku staring back. 

Sasuke assured and reassured Naruto that he’d never touch him again, and he’d do whatever Naruto wanted of him, anything. The last thing Sasuke wanted was to damage Naruto further. 

During Naruto’s time at the Forest Haven Asylum Sasuke was left to pick up the pieces of his shattered existence. Itachi was dead. He was cremated, and Sasuke didn’t know what to do with the ashes so they were kept in an urn on the top shelf in the utility closet. His father was locked up and rotting on death row. Awaiting his death day. It didn’t come quick enough. His father still sent him letters on a biweekly basis. He wasn’t sure how he kept finding him, but even after he moved three times, and they kept coming he gave up. Sasuke burned every single one without reading them. His mother remained in the nursing home receiving round-the-clock care. She was slowly losing her mind. The tests were confirmed. They finally diagnosed the illness that ate away her brain like a tapeworm. Dementia. 

Naruto and Sasuke? 

They were better off as friends, and yet even though they were separated it didn’t do either one of them any good. Sasuke was still in love with Naruto and even if they couldn’t be together as lovers he’d remain by his side as his friend. He was satisfied with that. He felt stabilized with the fact that Naruto was so close to him. He agreed to all the terms and conditions that Naruto laid out. Naruto was released on his twentieth birthday and had been living with Sasuke ever since. 

“Will you feel better if you slept next to me?” Naruto answered Sasuke’s question with a question.

“Mhm,” Sasuke answered truthfully. 

He crawled on top Naruto’s bed. It was too sweltering to sleep under the blankets. Sasuke always thought Naruto’s bed was the goldilocks of beds. It wasn’t too soft, and it wasn’t too hard. It was just right. Sasuke’s bed was stiff and firm. It felt like he was sleeping on a prison cot. He could have changed it, gotten a new one, but he didn’t. He didn’t deserve it. He rolled onto his side and faced Naruto. There was about a foot of distance between them. An invisible barrier. 

“Did you want to talk about the dream?” Naruto asked mirroring Sasuke. 

“Nightmare,” Sasuke corrected. 

“Did you want to talk about the nightmare?”

“No.” Sasuke answered. The fear held steadfast to him. Plunging him back into that moment. He couldn’t shake the feeling. He swallowed painfully. His mouth felt dry and his throat felt like the gobi desert. He was dehydrated and still drenched in sweat. 

“Okay...do you want to talk about the power turning off?” Naruto asked with a small smile. “It turned off when I came home last night. I checked the neighbors and they still had power. Come on, let me pay the bill. Let me help.” 

“I...I have the money to pay the bill I just forgot,” Sasuke answered defensively. He was sorta hoping it was a widespread power outage, but his suspicions were correct. He hadn’t checked his bank account in a while. Everytime he checked it only perpetuated the anxiety he felt about money and bills and the vicious cycle of never having enough money to pay the bills. It was always a gamble every paycheck on which bills were paid and which were ignored. 

“I’m working now so let me help out…” Naruto pressed. Sasuke shook his head no. He wasn’t going to allow Naruto to pay for anything...he already paid enough. Instead Sasuke changed the subject. Shifting the conversation from Sasuke and his inability to pay the bills to Naruto.

“Why did you come home so late?” Sasuke asked. He knew Naruto’s work schedule and he was supposed to be home earlier in the night. He remembered falling asleep waiting up for him. He felt the blonde shift. Those blue eyes pulled away and began looking around the room. A habit he developed when he was going to give Sasuke bad news. He tensed up already not liking the answer he was going to receive.

“I went out on a double-date with Ino and Shikamaru.”

“With _who_!?” Sasuke asked. He didn’t care about him being with Ino and Shikamaru he cared about who he went on a date with. He didn’t want his suspicions to become true.

“Sai.” 

Sasuke stopped breathing. His chest ached. His stomach filled with bile. There was a pounding in his head. It sounded like a freight train. Horns blaring. Lights flashing. Warning that it was coming closer and closer and Sasuke remained frozen on the tracks. Easier to just die on the train tracks than jump off and face reality. It felt as if his body was impaled by the freight train. The wheels crushing his skull, dismembering him, and disemboweling him. His bones shattered, his organs exploded, and the skin sack ruptured spilling the contents all over the train tracks. 

“You’re...dating?” Sasuke’s voice felt small, distant, and foreign. He knew it was inevitable he just wasn’t prepared for it to happen so...soon. Fuck. Who was he kidding? Naruto could have gone years and years without dating and it still would have come as a blow.

“Yes...I talked to you about it, S’ske,” Naruto explained his voice somber and clear. The way he said his nickname was more painful than a snapped femur bone, and yet Sasuke loved the way he said it. The most precious sound in the world. Naruto continued. 

“We’re friends. I will always love you as a friend, but we're too obsessed with each other. It isn’t healthy. Kurenai says I need to start dating, and I need to start living a normal life...outside of _you_. And you do too.” 

“I...I don’t want to date anyone else. I don’t want to love anyone else. It’s just you Naruto and it will always be you. I told you!” 

“Sasuke,” Naruto’s voice sounded tired. Drained. He sounded like a broken record. They’ve had this conversation multiple times. It's hard to train an old dog new tricks. Sasuke was too set in his ways. Naruto continued. “We’ve been over this. Nothing is going to happen between us. We’re friends. You’re my best friend, and you’ll always be my best friend. I told you. I started seeing Sai and we’re trying this whole dating thing out. I’m worried about you.”

Naruto told him a few months ago that he ran into Sai outside his job at the Barking Orange: K-9 Daycare and Kennel. He was walking the English Mastiffs in the park and Sai was jogging. They soon started jogging together a few days a week. It was all Sasuke cared to know and stopped asking questions. Unfortunately the relationship deepened between them. 

Everything was feeling unstable. Sasuke agreed to the terms and conditions, but he forgot that Naruto was going to be dating other people, kissing other people, and sleeping with other people. They’ve been living together for nine months and things have been strictly platonic, and he was fine with the way things were. He wanted things to remain _exactly_ the same, which included Naruto remaining single, remaining celebate, and remaining by his side.

Stripping everything to the bare bones. He was being selfish...no it was beyond that he was being obsessive. He refused to be obsessive. He refused to end up like Shisui and Fugaku who preoccupied their mind with thoughts of only Naruto, continually, intrusively and to a troubling extent that it decimated him. 

He had to let Naruto go. Sasuke knew that without being told. It was just... _unbearable_. 

“I’m okay. You don’t have to worry about me. You’re right-you’re right. I’m just being selfish. You were my first love so of course it’s going to take me longer to get over you, but, I will...I can date other people too. I can start dating. I just want you to be happy, and if it isn’t with me that’s okay too.”

Naruto’s smile was breathtaking. It crinkled the corners of his eyes and lit up his whole face. It felt like it was the middle of the day instead of the middle of the night. He didn’t need electricity when he had Naruto’s smile. He wished he could harness it, hook it up to a generator, and power up his apartment. Sasuke found himself smiling back. That smile was contagious and the more Naruto smiled the more he found himself mirroring him. 

“Thank you, Sasuke. I know this will be the best for both of us!”

“I’ll do whatever you say, Naruto.”

*****

Sasuke had no intentions on actually dating. He considered himself the trope of single-target sexuality with his attraction to Naruto regardless of what sex and gender the other identified as. He couldn’t see himself with anyone else, or maybe he didn’t want to see himself with anyone else. It had always been Naruto since he was five years old. Too much had happened...and what Fugaku did to Naruto...was so fucked up they could never go back to the way things were. _Never_.

After the night he slept in Naruto’s bed he went back to doing exactly what he had been doing all along. Nothing changed. Naruto saw right through him and wouldn’t leave him alone, wouldn’t let him forget that Sasuke agreed to see other people, date other people, and kept reminding him of this. On a daily basis. Like clockwork. He could set his watch by it. He was content living out his life in solitary as long as he remained friends with Naruto. He could do it as long as Naruto was still breathing. If he couldn't be with Naruto then he'd live his life alone. He accepted it...kinda. 

The final straw happened seven days later when Naruto was in the kitchen, sitting on the counter, and drinking his morning coffee. The blonde woke up everyday at 6:00AM. He spent the last three years inside the Forest Haven Asylym waking up at 6:00AM and that carried over with him when he was discharged. A fresh batch of coffee followed. The apartment smelled of blueberry cobbler coffee. Sasuke entered the kitchen and glanced at the mug in Naruto's hands. He hadn’t seen it before. It was new. The phrase ‘ _Don’t go bacon my heart_ ’ in comic sans. He didn’t understand the phrase. 

“What’s the deal with the mug?” Sasuke asked as he grabbed the pot of coffee and poured himself a cup. 

“Sai got us these matching mugs. His says ‘I couldn’t if I fried.’” Naruto laughed. He slammed the pot down on the counter. 

Jesus fucking Christ. Sasuke didn’t answer. He took his mug that said completely nothing on the side and went back into his bedroom slamming the door shut behind him. He picked up his phone and began downloading every dating application on the Apple store.

Surge. Jack’d. Swagy. Scruff. Chappy. Romeo. EliteSingles. Hinge. Grindr.

He was going to download more but once he hit _Daddyhunt_ he reached his limit and didn’t go any further. Was too afraid to go any further. He barely knew if he was gay let alone if he’d like whatever community ‘ _Daddyhunt_ ’ belonged to. Sasuke was a psychoanalysts wet-dream when it came to fucked up daddy issues, but seeking out and dating a daddy was an area he refused to venture into. 

*****

Sasuke went down the rabbit hole of online dating following the elusive white rabbit and didn’t think he’d ever resurface the same again. He was standing in the aisle of the colloquially named bookstore at which he worked: _Book Ends_. He should have been stocking the shelves with the new shipment of New York Times Best Sellers. Honestly, every book these days was a 'best seller' it lost all meaning to him. Instead of actually working he was reading the vulgar and explicit messages he was being sent. Reading how strangers wanted to bend him, spread him, and fill him. A shadow encased him. Sasuke turned around to see an older customer standing over him and reading the messages over his shoulder. He was mortified. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"I was waiting for ten minutes at the register, and I find the employee is sexting?" the man spoke sardonically. "What poor customer service. I should speak to the owner of the store right away and lodge a complaint." 

"I wasn't sexting! I'm dating!" Sasuke said defensively, only as soon as he said it, he immediately regretted it. The man seemed to gather strength from it and his lips spread in a malicious smile. 

"I don't think your generation even knows what the definition of 'dating' is. The lines between dating and hooking up have been blurred for years. Does nobody believe in soulmates anymore? Is it just fucking these days? Tell me do you even know the definition of 'commitment'?" 

Sasuke stared at the man. He was older, but he didn't know by how much. Gifted with a timeless face where he could pass anywhere from twenty-three to forty-three years old. There was no way of telling. The way he carried himself was strong and so sure of himself. Confidence. Something Sasuke lacked. He had the air of royalty. It reminded him of the way Itachi carried himself. His skin iridescent and translucent. Long silky black hair fell over his shoulders in a violent oil spill. What captured Sasuke's attention were his eyes. They appeared to illuminate in chartreuse. The color of absinthe. Meant to be consumed over sugar cubes. If he looked in his eyes any longer he felt like he was going to become drunk. 

He resembled a serpent. Not all snakes were poisonous and not all poisons were deadly. Or however the saying went. Sasuke couldn't remember. This man in his three-piece suit was dangerous. He felt it. 

"Yes. Do you? Our dictionaries are over there. If you want to cash out so badly let's go," Sasuke snapped. He shoved past the man, walked to the front of the bookstore, and behind the counter. The man laughed and followed. His laugh was filled with mockery. 

"Tell me how tragic is your love life that you're seeking human affection online?"

"Where are the books you wanted to buy?" Sasuke interrupted slamming his hands on the counter. Ignoring his prying questions. The man didn't have anything in his hands and nothing was waiting for him at the register. Sasuke's patience was nonexistent. 

"I'm not here to buy anything. I'm here to have a meeting with Jirarya. To schedule a meet and greet. See this book? I wrote it," the man said, he bent over, and picked up a hardcover book that was in a box. His eyes went to the authors name: _Orochimaru_. 

"You wrote ' _There's a Dead Cat in my Mailbox_ '? Of course you did," Sasuke spoke deadpan and rolled his eyes. 

He didn't know what the book was about. Didn't care. It was halfway unpacked from the box...halfway meaning all Sasuke did was cut open the box and fold the flaps back. The title and cover art were so ridiculous he walked away. The books remained in the box in front of the register. The cover was very literal. All black with one floodlight illuminating an archetypal white mailbox open with a cat's corpse stuffed in, and blood dripping out. It looked comical and very tongue-in-cheek. It looked stupid. Sasuke wasn't planning on reading it, but meeting the author solidified the only reason he'd _ever_ open the book was to use it as kindling during an act of survival. 

"So when will Jirarya be in?" Orochimaru asked his eyes looking around the bookstore as if expecting the owner to appear from thin air. 

"I don't know. Why don't you come back after 5."

"Will he be back after 5?"

"No. But I won't be here." 

"Heh. You know for someone whose exchanging explicit messages with men on the internet during company time you'd think you'd be more relaxed. Ah~ I see. You're not engaged in any sexual activity, or if you are, it isn't good."

"Excuse me?"

"Mhm if you want to get a drink. Give me a call. My name is Orochimaru by the way."

Orochimaru said as he slid his business card on the counter. Sasuke scowled back just as Orochimaru leaned over and grabbed his lanyard where his employee badge hung. Sasuke purposefully kept it flipped backwards. Orochimaru looked at the badge, his name, and smiled.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Sasuke. Till we meet again." 

Orochimaru spun around on the balls of his shoes, and left the bookstore. Leaving Sasuke's head spinning. What the fuck? He grabbed the business card. Tasteful thickness. Eggshell white with Silian Grai lettering and a glossy smooth finish. He ripped it up and threw the confetti pieces into the trash.

*****

There were three things Sasuke knew for certain. 1. He lied to Naruto, 2. He wanted to get blackout drunk on his birthday, and 3. He received another letter from his father today. 

He lied to Naruto. He told him he had a date and couldn't celebrate his birthday with him, or Ino, or Shikamaru, or... ~~Sai~~.

Instead Sasuke spent his twenty-first birthday inside Benjamin's on Franklin. A tongue-in-cheek bar in downtown Konoha. Alone. Drinking Johnnie Walker scotch whiskey on the rocks. It was the brand his father favored. The smell was comforting. The taste was disgusting. Every time he drank he made a face. It felt like he was drinking battery acid. It stung, watered his eyes, and when he swallowed his gag reflex was triggered. He shuddered and slammed the empty glass down on the counter. Shaking his head. Sputtering. Being dramatic. Willing himself not to vomit. He was alone. He could act a fool if he wanted. Nobody knew him here. Fuck it.

Someone sat down besides him at the bar. Sasuke looked out the corner of his eyes. He saw familiar inky black hair and illuminating serpent eyes. His stomach fell. 

"I didn't think you were old enough to drink. You must have an impressive fake ID." Orochimaru oily voice spoke. He ordered a glass of chianti. Sasuke watched as the bartender poured the darkened rich liquid into a bold red wine glass. 

"Fuck off." Sasuke answered. "Let me self-medicate in peace." ' _On my fucking birthday'._ Sasuke wanted to say but couldn't. 

"Oh, poor baby gunna' drink his pwob~lems away?" Orochimaru mocked. 

"You don't know shit about me." 

"You're Uchiha Sasuke. You're a celebrity. Your brother is dead and your father is sitting on death row for the assassination of Namikaze Minato and the sexual assault and attempted murder of his son: Uzumaki Naruto. Everybody knows who you are."

Sasuke felt the blood empty his skull. As if someone flushed it down the toilet. He could feel it rescinding down and feel it pool around his ankles leaving him woozy. Light-headed. Bright lights flickered in his vision and everything became fuzzy. It sounded like he was underwater. Dry drowning. His ears were plugged. His skull felt full and filled with white noise as if someone was slowly turning the volume higher and higher. He wasn't famous...he was infamous. He walked around with lights and signs pointed at him. He was the son of Uchiha Fugaku. The man who assassinated the Yondaime. The man who ran a black market child prostitution ring. The man who peddled Callisto on the streets. The man who....sodomized, and attempted to strangle Naruto to death with a belt, and would have succeeded if Sasuke didn't ~~kill~~ shoot him.

He received another letter from his father today in the mail. This time instead of setting it on fire he kept it unopened in his nightstand drawer.

"Go to hell." Sasuke said. His voice shaky. He was not well. He felt himself coming undone one thread at a time. 

"I misjudged you. I did not know who you were until after I spoke with Jirarya."

"Keep my name out of your filthy mouth." Sasuke growled. He signaled to the bartender he needed another double. 

"I'm in search of a personal assistant. Jirarya said you're looking for a second job, but nobody will hire you, given the circumstances."

"Fuck off. I'm not a goddamn charity case."

"Calm down, _Princess_. It's temporary while I'm promoting my book. I only need someone until the end of August. Kononha is a dying city and I only come here when my contract deems it necessary. I'm a slave to my publicist. I'll return to Otogakure when I've fulfilled my part of the contract. The pay is triple what you're making with Jirarya and I'll pay you in cash, under the table." 

"Why me?" Sasuke asked. The bartender slid him the rocks glass. He held it in his hands and took a sip. It was getting easier to swallow. He could feel the alcohol filling his empty stomach and enter his bloodstream. 

"You'll be the perfect muse for me. Besides, you're probably one of the only few who can tolerate me." 

"Jirarya told you where you'd find me didn't he?"

"He told me it was your birthday. How sad. You here all alone on your birthday. You're as pathetic as it comes. You'd be perfect for my assistant." 

"You're a piece of shit, you know that right? Fine, but I want half the money upfront."

"Deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have the rough layout of the epilogue planned out. It'll take place over one blistering July and August (unless I write more ^^; because I also have another idea that will tie over until Naruto's birthday in October). The epilogue was always going to take place in the summertime a stark contrast to the fall-winter months of the story. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments. I love reading every one's thoughts/comments/critiques. Thank you for all the support.


	52. Hungarian Dance No. 5

# Hungarian Dance No. 5 

 

He stood on the plane in a world between the living and the dead. Suspended in the middle. A world where the snow fell up from the ground and the crystal blue sea was suspended high in the sky. The fish evolved hands and feet and crawled, and the birds evolved gills and fins and swam. It was a beautiful sight. Purgatory. Naruto didn’t want to return to reality.

He carried a red delicious apple. On the outside the crimson flesh of the apple was smooth and perfect. It was polished and gleamed. It was so appetizing. Cultivated especially for him. It was so appealing to the eyes and Naruto was starving. He had been starving this whole time. He was so close...so close to eating…

“JUST KILL ME! DON’T DO THIS PLEASE, FUGAKU! PLEASE JUST KILL ME!!” 

He saw Fugaku clearly. The deepened lines on either side of his jaw. His cleft chin. Sasuke had the same eyes as his father. Insufferable eyes of dead space. All light was snuffed out in those blackholes. Naruto was screaming for Fugaku to kill him. Instead he was stripped of his humanity and laughed. Instead of death and darkness. He was being dragged into the master bedroom of room 3707. Thrown on the bed. He was blinded in pain. His vision fuzzy. The bullet had shattered his femur bone. He could feel the shattered bone moving around. His leg lost all function. His thigh became a skin sack of shattered bone. 

He was screaming in agony. 

Since the moment he was cut from his mother’s stomach. He was screaming. He was starving. On the inside the apple was blackened with mold, mushy, and infested with maggots. He was starving and so he ate. He was so close and he was finally able to eat. He was starving for seventeen years and he was finally able to eat. He took a bite of the rotten fruit. It was nauseating. It made him gag. His stomach retched violently and his back arched with each dry heave. But oh he was just so hungry, and it was the only thing in this godforsaken world he was able to eat. 

Naruto attempted to fight him off, but he was weak. He was losing blood. He was forced on his stomach, and Fugaku was behind him, placing himself between Naruto’s legs. He felt himself being peeled back until he was stripped to his organs and bones. He didn’t understand what was happening. But. He. Did. It happened before. Fugaku wasn’t just going to kill him he was going to humiliate him. Exert complete and total power over him. He was forced to submit. Blood squirted out of the bullet wound with each beat of his heart. It felt warm. 

Naruto pissed himself. The smell of urine comforted him. He didn’t want to live. 

The apple festered in his mouth. He took another bite, and another, and another. Hungrily. The white maggots squirmed around as his teeth chomped down. Filling his mouth up with brownish-yellow pus. Saliva secreted in his mouth. His tongue moved the poisoned apple down his throat. Activating the digestive system. He engorged himself. He couldn’t stop. 

He was pleading with Fugaku. He wasn’t just pleading. He was screaming with every ounce of his being, using every ounce of emotion he had ever felt, ever experienced, inside the Manor, inside Room 3707. He sang it out in a mournful ballad of human agony. 

“PLEASE! DON’T DO THIS! MIKOTO IS ALIVE! I DIDN’T TOUCH HER! SHE’S OKAY! PLEASE YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS! NO! PLEASE-PLEASE, FUGAKU!”

Naruto felt himself being split down the middle. His psyche cracked into a million tiny pieces. Shattered like glass. He felt himself curl up in the fetal position. Fugaku entered him and plunged himself inside. It felt like he was sliced open with a knife. Split down the middle as easily as taking an axe and splitting wood. Every thrust and he felt himself shrink smaller. He was reverting in age until he was five years old again. He was standing in the school yard with his name pinned to his chest. His eyes rolled up to look at the massive beast that was the police commissioner. 

He still wasn’t safe. 

Even at five years old he was in danger. There was a look of pure disgust...of pure annihilation. Fugaku moved his dress jacket back to reveal the gun secured in its holster. Sasuke was standing in front of him. Standing alongside Fugaku. In his iron-pressed navy blue shirt, and starch-straight white shorts. 

Naruto still had that smile on his face. He stuck his hand out, wanting Sasuke to shake it, and stated, "Let's be friends, 'ay Sasuke?"

"You're really stupid aren't you? Like I'd be your friend," Sasuke spoke coldly. He slapped the outstretched hand away, and without another word, shoved his hands into his pockets, and began walking towards the school entrance. 

He found himself stripped naked and alone in the school yard. A snake slithered up his leg and burrowed into his tight asshole. Face first. Ripping through his intestines and ripping him open. Naruto felt an intense pain in his rectum. He looked down to see blood dripping down his thighs. The snake completely disappeared inside him, and his intestines began falling out his gaping hole like sausage links. Hitting the ground with a splattering noise. He could feel a pain scrambling his intestines. He clutched his stomach and screamed as he felt the wiggling snake moving inside. 

He wasn’t safe anywhere. Least of all in his own mind. 

It was a bargain he made with the devil. Instead of one soul he was promised two. Told the devil he’d kill Fugaku and then himself. Naruto intended on dragging Fugaku to hell with him. That was the bargain he made with the devil. Instead. Naruto woke up on the hospital gurney after a needle impaled his chest, pierced his coronary artery and pumped him full of liquid methamphetamine. He was alive, and Fugaku was alive...and Namikaze Minato was dead. 

Nothing felt real.

***** 

He woke up to Sasuke bending over and kissing him. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the open-mouthed kiss.

He wanted to in the beginning. He thought that maybe now...maybe now they could be together without interruption. Fugaku was in prison. Sasuke was alive and here in front of him. It felt good. He wanted to kiss Sasuke. Feeling Sasuke’s mouth against him in a passionate greeting. It was perfect and then it wasn’t anymore. He didn’t fulfill his side of the bargain and the devil cursed him, and came to collect a debt. His mouth filled with maggots, there was a sharp pain in his intestines, and when he opened his eyes he saw Fugaku kissing him back. 

“Naruto...are you okay? Do you want me to get the doctor?” Sasuke was asking. 

“GET AWAY FROM ME!”

“Are you in pain? What’s going on? Let me help you please.”

Naruto found himself screaming and huddled in the corner of the hospital room. He couldn’t stop dry heaving. He had pissed himself again. A puddle of urine formed at his feet. He felt Sasuke’s hands touching his body and when he opened his eyes he saw Fugaku. He continued screaming until the medical staff burst through the hospital room. Expecting to see a monster assaulting him, but everything that had happened...was happening from the inside. He wasn’t able to calm down. They had to inject him full of diazepam. He felt the effects in sixty seconds. Went back to sleep.

***** 

Naruto didn’t wake up again for another three months.

He was on crutches in the courtyard at the hospital, wearing the ugly hospital gown, thick wool socks and birkenstocks. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. He was in a sour mood, despite the beauty of the courtyard, he was upset because he still couldn’t put his full weight on his leg. There were two ugly scars on his thigh. One from the bullet wound, and the other, from where they went in and drilled steel rods into his bones. 

Sasuke was standing in front of him. He looked beautiful. Like a painting. Pale skin, dark hair, and the backdrop of the cherry blossoms. Sasuke was absolutely breathtaking. He was flawless. Everything about him was perfect. Naruto agreed to the visit. He had to test the waters. He _wanted_ to see Sasuke. 

“Hey…” Naruto greeted. He was on a heavy regimen of medications and psychotherapy. He held onto sanity today. Told himself he wasn’t going to let go. 

“Hey…thanks for seeing me. It’s so good to see you.” Sasuke greeted with a smile. His voice was gentle. That smile. Made him weak-kneed. He continued. “How are you doing today? You look great....I-I missed you.”

There was a pain in Naruto’s heart. It caused him to pause. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Sasuke was too pure, too clean, too innocent. It was easier seeing Sasuke...but he still couldn’t look him in the eyes. He focused on his smile. Fuck. He stole a glance at his eyes anyways. It was a mistake. He stopped breathing. The illusion was shattered. All he saw staring back at him was Fugaku. His eyes widened in terror. 

“I got you another pair of socks…they’re foxes on ‘em...I’d thought you’d like ‘em.” Sasuke held up a pair of crimson socks with foxes on them. It wasn’t Fugaku...it was...Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke!

“Socks?” Naruto asked with a weak smile. He felt himself sway. The ground became rubber under his feet. 

He felt his vision blur. He saw Fugaku superimposed on Sasuke. He tried to apply logic, but his emotions overwhelmed him. He found himself back in room 3707. He avoided Sasuke’s eyes. It was Sasuke in front of him. Not Fugaku. He thought he was okay. He wasn’t. He checked himself over. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t talk normally with Sasuke. 

“Yeah. Here try ‘em on.” Sasuke began to move closer and Naruto flinched. He couldn’t. He moved backwards, held out an arm and screamed.

“DON’T COME ANY CLOSER! PLEASE!” 

Sasuke halted and asked desperately, “Naruto...tell me please...what’s going on?”

“I...can’t see you anymore…” Naruto wheezed. He closed his eyes. Literal. He was being completely fucking literal. Breathing was difficult. His chest tightened. He felt his body temperature rise. He was sweating. He wanted to strip his clothes off. He was boiling. He wanted to run away. Blood rushed between his ears. But he was frozen to the spot. Invisible snakes emerged from the ground and wrapped around his legs. 

“This isn’t funny. What? What are you talking about?”

“Does it look like I’m fucking laughing? Every time I look at you all I see is _him_...and I still feel him on me, it’s all I can feel. Him on me...in me...I…” Naruto was panting. Every word he spoke took an exorbitant amount of energy. He couldn’t hold his weight up any longer and he collapsed to the ground. Leaving his crutches where they fell. He clasped a hand to his chest. He peeked through his closed eyes and watched as Fugaku bounded towards him.

It hurt. Everything hurt. He felt disgusted. Being in front of Fugaku. He could feel his skin crawling. Maggots in his mouth. Snakes in his body. His stomach churned and he felt nauseous. It overwhelmed him. He wanted to vomit. He told himself if he vomited he was going to feel better. He was sick and the only way he’d ever get better is if he vomited. Fugaku was going to hurt him again. He felt the urge to urinate. He tightened his bladder muscles. Naruto yelled holding out a hand to stop him from coming any closer.

“DON’T! Don’t come any closer…I feel _sick_ every time you’re near me. Don’t hurt me please! Please don’t hurt me!” 

He felt it. He began dry heaving. He could feel the stomach bile being wretched up his esophagus. He couldn’t stop. He covered his mouth but he was still gagging. His eyes watered. He made loud gagging, choking noises, and saliva was being spat up. 

“Naruto...I…I’m not going to hurt you! I love.”

There was a long pause. Sasuke couldn’t move and Naruto couldn’t stop dry heaving. They were alone, and uninterrupted in the courtyard. Several minutes passed before Sasuke’s husky, pleading, voice broke the silence.

”Naruto tell me what to do...”

“Don’t you get it? I don’t want to be near you! I…can’t be near you!” Naruto was vomiting up saliva. It spilled over his fingers and he felt better. He knew if he vomited he’d feel better and he did. He was breathing rapidly. In. Out. In. Out. In. His nose burned. His eyes watered. 

“Everytime you touch me...everytime I see you...all I can see is him..All I can feel is him...it’s too painful to be around you, S’ske...you being here it hurts me.”

“I promise I won’t ever hurt you! Naruto please! I...I’ll do anything...I won’t touch you...what if-what if we just talk on the phone? Or...through text messages? I’ll bring you a phone...okay? Let’s do that. I’ll give you a phone and we’ll talk with that...I’ll be right back!”

Naruto looked up to see Sasuke’s back as he ran away. He didn’t want to be separated from Sasuke. He loved Sasuke...but...he looked around the courtyard. Sasuke was gone. He was alone. The air smelled sweet. He could physically feel himself calm down. He remained on the ground for a little while longer. His stomach stopped stewing. His breathing returned to normal. He no longer felt overheated. He felt safe again. He smeared the saliva on his hospital gown, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 

An overwhelming feeling of sadness encased him. He didn’t want to be alone. He didn’t want Sasuke to leave him here alone. He wanted him to come back….He... 

‘ _What the fuck is wrong with me?_ ’

It hit him. He started crying. He loved Sasuke so much and yet every time he was around him he found himself back in room 3707. Ugly, fat, tears rolled down his cheeks. He balled his hands into fists and began beating the ground. Wailing. He slammed his forehead against the ground and screamed. He could feel the cool blades of freshly cut grass up against his face. It felt scratchy and itchy. He inhaled the smell of dirt and pesticides. It didn’t calm him down. It made things worse. He couldn’t stop crying. He heard the doors opening from the hospital and looked up to see the charge nurse dressed in white ready to deliver him from evil. 

“What are you waiting for? Give me the fucking diazepam already!”

He wanted to be put out of his fucking misery.

***** 

He was raw, exposed, and vulnerable for a long time. His emotions fluctuated from one extreme to the next, marinating in a black sea of his own despair. There was a while when he gave up. He spread his arms, stopped treading water, and drowned. He couldn’t remember when things started clicking into place. It came later. Gradually. It didn’t happen right away. It took a while to drain the swamp and find his bloated body at the bottom of the lake. Took longer to coax him back into the land of the living. 

Naruto was not entirely innocent. He had to make amends. His crimes did not go unpunished. He stood trial. He accepted a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting. An accessory charge. He was sentenced to the Forest Haven Asylum. He remained there for 2.5 years on a treatment regimen of medication management and exposure therapy. It worked. He responded. He felt somewhat of a sense of normalcy. 

He got better, and part of him thought he could start a relationship with Sasuke. They were nineteen, and Sasuke had come during visitation hours. He came every week. It was a constant. He was feeling good today. He felt aroused. Having Sasuke in front of him he felt...turned on. 

Every synapse lit up and fired in the pleasure part of the brain. He felt electric. Infinite. Godlike. Everything welled up. He was human after all. He needed release. Needed Sasuke to give him that. Today. It was easier now. To slip away. He was moved off the children’s ward and supervision was much more relaxed. He slipped away and into his bedroom tugging Sasuke along. The two collapsed through the doorway intertwined with each other. He couldn’t get enough. 

Naruto began kissing Sasuke. The other was too hesitant to do anything and allowed Naruto to take control. He really did love him. He needed Sasuke in every way. He was the only person in the world he cared about.

Naruto’s fingers brushed against his skin, under his clothes, exploring his body, and it sent shivers up and down his spine. He felt excited, giddy, drunk on the moment. Their bodies fit so perfectly together. He loved the smell of Sasuke’s shampoo. The smell of tea tree oil and mint. The smell of his sweat. The taste of curry on his tongue. The taut muscles of his body. He held Sasuke’s erection in his hand he wanted him in his mouth. 

“Naruto…” Sasuke exhaled against Naruto’s throat as his lips attacked his neck. He felt hot and flushed. The way he said his name was enough to make him explode. He was so overly sensitive and starved. 

“Say my name again…” Naruto whispered as he pushed Sasuke to his bed. Sasuke compiled and repeated his name. The way Sasuke said if made him love his name more and more. His voice was low, rough, and husky. It left him delirious. He wanted more. 

The bedroom door swung open. Naruto was halfway through disrobing Sasuke, astride him, when his eyes shakily moved to the door. It was Kurenai.

***** 

“I’m concerned, Naruto.” Kurenai began the session.

The room remained unchanged even after all these years. The same furniture, the same arraignment, the same lighting. The same smells. The same painting on the wall. Claude Monet’s ‘ _Poppies_ ’. Naruto used to hate the room, but now sitting in the oversized armchair and looking at Kurenai in the loveseat. He felt completely at ease. He felt completely safe. He knew what to expect. 

“You said I was making progress. I’m feeling great. Sasuke and my relationship is even stronger and he wants me to move in with him when I get outta here. I mean. I can even touch Sasuke now, kiss him, and if you didn’t interrupt me- I could have even slept with him, without thinking he’s...without thinking he’s…”

“Without thinking he’s who?”

“You know who...why do I have to say his name?”

“I want you to say his name. Say Uchiha Fugaku.”

He couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to say his name. His mouth filled with cement. His voice box rusted. He lost the ability to talk. He shook his head. Kurenai nodded her head. 

“You still need self-control, Naruto. You cannot center your whole world around Sasuke. I will not sign the discharge papers unless you start changing things.”

“I am making changes! I’m ready to get my fucking life back! It’s been almost three years.” 

“You have made remarkable improvement, but you’re becoming obsessive. You have an addictive personality, and right now you are focusing all your attention on Sasuke. You’ve refused all other visitors, and you don’t talk about any of your friends, instead you talk only about Sasuke, and only see Sasuke.” 

Naruto went quiet for a while; allowing Kurenai’s words to sink in. He used to hate her. He saw her as the wicked witch of the east and he was waiting for a house to fall from the sky and crush her. Now. She had become one of the few adults he viewed as good. There were so many bad adults in this world. It was overwhelming. Kurenai she was one of the good ones. He respected her, believed her, and took her words to heart. 

What she was saying was making a lot of sense. The only person he cared about in this world was Sasuke. Some artists would call it soulmates, truelove, something romantic and idolized. Kurenai called it obsessive and frowned upon it. Naruto rolled his eyes. 

“Okay...maybe you have a point. What do you want me to do about it?”

“Boundaries! Specifically setting up boundaries with Sasuke.” 

“Boundaries?”

“Yes. You’re going to start implementing strict boundaries and you’re going to follow through.” 

“So like...you don’t want me to date Sasuke?”

“No.”

“Ever?”

“Maybe not ever...but you’re young. It’s very rare that you’re going to end up with your first love.” 

Naruto snorted and folded his arms, “What if we’re destined to be together?”

“What if you’re not, and you’re only telling yourself you love him because it’s what comfortable and familiar?”

”You just want me to tell him I only want to be friends? And then what?”

“Then you’re going to follow through. You’re going to be friends with Sasuke. And only friends. That means no hugging, no kissing, no sex, no sleeping with each other. It means if you move in you’re in your own bedroom, and own bed, and you’re still friends.” 

“I don’t want that!” 

“Of course you don’t, but you need to be protected from the things you want. You’re still healing. You need to date other people, make new friends, you need to experience life Naruto. That means getting a job, traveling, going back to school. There is so much in this world you need to experience and you’re not going to if you’re focusing all your time and energy on one person. It’ll be good for you...and it’ll be good for Sasuke as well.”

Naruto paused. Kurenai paused. They stared at each other. Kurenai continued.

“Do you think you’re not strong enough to do it?”

***** 

Naruto developed the rules for his relationship with Sasuke. He was going to go back to being strictly platonic friends. The same rules he had with Shikamaru needed to be transferred to Sasuke. And fuck was it difficult. The follow through. Kurenai asked Naruto if he was strong enough to maintain these boundaries...and in the beginning he was hesitant, but...he knew it was for the best for both himself and Sasuke. 

Rule number one was no touching. It was the most important and the hardest to maintain. The basic of human affection was human touch. He wanted to feel the comforting touch of Sasuke. During his sessions with Kurenai Naruto disclosed his boundaries with Sasuke had always been blurred. Since the beginning. Practice kissing. Crawling into bed with him. Blurring sexual boundaries. He wanted to feel safe he wanted to be comforted. How he went about securing those feelings of safety and comfort were to engage in sexual activities. When all he wanted was to lay side by side with Sasuke. 

During those sessions he understood that Sasuke had the inability to say no to Naruto. He didn’t tell him no and gave in to everything, and if Sasuke kept enabling him, and the boundaries kept blurring it was going to be detrimental. Kurenai was right. Naruto would have disappeared. 

Rule number two. They had to remain fully clothed at all times. The minimum needing to wear a t-shirt and shorts. It meant no stripping in front of each other. It meant keeping the bathroom door locked at all times when using it, and if changing in the bedroom it meant locking it. 

Rule number three. Do not enter the other’s bedroom without permission. Do not sleep in the same bed/couch/futon. This rule was contingent on the previous rules. If the previous rules were broken down and disregarded this rule was going to crumble into oblivion 

Rule number four. They needed to build a network of friends outside of themselves. They needed to spend time with those friends separately from each other. 

Rule number five. They needed to date other people. They needed to see other people. There needed to be somebody outside of them that they saw romantically. Kurenai went on about building a strong foundation. It was petrifying. The only relationships Naruto had were Haku and Sasuke and both had blurred boundaries both sexually and emotionally. 

When Naruto told Sasuke these rules. He agreed without batting an eye. There was desperation in Sasuke’s voice, and a mania in his eyes, and it clicked. These rules were good for Sasuke just as they were good for him.

*****

When Naruto was discharged he moved in with Sasuke, temporarily staying on the couch, and they set out in search of a two bedroom apartment. Sasuke wearing his glasses and a beanie, and Naruto in a baseball cap both in a hodgepodge of street clothes. Neither had any sense of fashion. They had a realtor show them a two-bedroom apartment at the edge of town next to the train tracks. In the wintertime it was impassable. However during the other months, every night, during the witching hour a train passed through and vibrated their whole apartment.

“This is a cozy two-bedroom apartment, and it’s very vintage,” she said with a voice of a salesman. 

Filled with forced positivity yet with the tenacity as if selling ice to eskimos. Naruto and Sasuke walked through the apartment. The realtor called it cozy, what it meant was that it was about the size of a walk-in closet. Barely 600 sq ft. By vintage she met everything was old, and outdated. The doors jammed. There weren’t enough outlets. The bathroom had a standing shower and no bath.

“It’s full of natural-light!” 

Naruto looked and saw there were few light fixtures. Natural light because there was no light coming from the inside it had to be supplied from the outside. There was only a lightbulb in the kitchen and bathroom, the rest of the rooms they’d have to supply lamps if they wanted light at night. 

“It’s 15 minutes from downtown Konoha!”

Naruto glanced at Sasuke and they both rolled their eyes. They both had to take two transfers and then walk an additional ten minutes to meet her here. 

“With a very unique kitchen!” They entered the kitchen. It was unique because everything seemed to be cut in half. The stove was cut in half. The fridge was so old it should have been called an icebox. The counters were limited and there were only a few cabinets. 

“So...now that I showed you the grand tour what do you think?” 

“We’ll take it.”

*****

Sasuke was having nightmares, and his nightmares included Naruto dying...or dead...or gone in vivid detail. The train passing through triggered it. Naruto woke up to Sasuke screaming and thrashing, and ran to his bedroom. Moving on instinct.

“Sasuke!” Naruto yelled as he swung his bedroom door open. Sasuke was sitting up in bed shivering. His pupils were small and his eyes bloodshot. His hair was wild and he was panting. The expression he wore was completely broken and heart wrenching. His heart started thumping painfully. Sasuke lost everything too. It wasn’t just Naruto who lost everything. Sasuke lost his whole family. One by one by one. He could see the pain etched on his features. 

“N-naruto?” Sasuke asked his voice hitched and breathless. He spoke as if he had finished running a marathon. Sasuke stumbled out of bed.

“What’s wrong…? I’m here.” Naruto asked and he walked closer before reaching an invisible barrier and stopping. 

“You were dead...I saw you dead...you...died. Please don’t leave me again!” Sasuke begged hoarsely his back pressed up against the wall. His knees buckled and he slid down.

“I won’t...I’m here…I’m here S’ske...” Naruto answered and he lowered himself to the ground until he was on the same eye level as Sasuke. 

It made it extremely difficult to follow step one, because all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around Sasuke and hold him until morning. Keep him safe. Whisper reassuringly in his ear that he was okay, he was alive, and he was here and he wasn’t going to leave him. 

His skin felt itchy, he felt flush, and uncomfortable. He wanted to reach out and touch him. Sasuke was right in front of him and he was in pain. It was torture. Unfair. Cruel. 

The last time he touched Sasuke was the last time he was intimate with him. He tugged him into his room at the Forest Haven Asylum and had him nearly naked when Kurenai interrupted them. If he’d know it was going to be the last time he touched Sasuke, the last time he was going to be intimate, he would have been present more, savored every second, committed everything to memory. 

He couldn’t bring himself to reach out, because if he did...he’d break four out of the five rules...he’d lose all the progress he’s made. It wouldn’t help Naruto and it wouldn’t help Sasuke if all they did was blur sexual boundaries as if with each orgasm could somehow cure them of the irreparable loss and emptiness they felt. It was the hardest thing Naruto had to do. But he didn’t reach out. 

Instead he waited in Sasuke’s room until he calmed down.

*****

Naruto was at the park walking the English Mastiffs. They were fastened to a belt around his waist. Churchill and Thatcher enjoyed their daily patrol around the park. Barking at men in beards and hats were their favorite pastime. He was wearing a baseball cap, a plain white t-shirt and cargo shorts. Trying to be as inconspicuous as he could with two massive mastiffs. He lost his sunglasses and he was afraid to look up from his phone. He didn’t want anyone to recognize him. He was scrolling through a dating application when a familiar voice called out.

“Why am I not surprised that you’re wearing socks and sandals?” 

He looked up to see Sai blocking the pathway. He was older, taller. His face was still soft and round and held a gentleness to it. His cheeks were flushed with red. It was spring, but today was uncharacteristically hot. He was wearing a skin-tight jogging outfit, a fitbit, bluetooth headphones, and a slick layer of sweat coated him. He looked at Sai’s feet to see his running shoes were worn out and he noticed the tongue was coming apart. He still wore clothes and shoes until they literally fell apart. His eyes moved slowly up his body and he paused and smirked. 

“Jeez, Sai. Put your dick away we’re in a public park. The kids are going to get scared.” Naruto scoffed and gestured towards his biker shorts that left little to the imagination. 

“Please tell me you finally burned that hideous orange track outfit?” Sai asked with a roll of his eyes. He brought two fingers to the pulse on his neck. 

“You bastard. How are you doing?”

“It’s going...what about you?”

“Mhm. It’s going.” 

“Mutherfucking, Uzumaki Naruto in the flesh.”

“Sai...actually I don’t know your last name, fuckface-bastard.”

Sai tossed his head back and laughed. Naruto found himself smiling.

*****

“I know I can’t compare, but after we found Udon Ise’s body...I had nightmares for weeks. I knew he was dead, but I couldn’t accept it I thought if I performed CPR I could bring him back. I kept thinking it was my fault. If I had run faster, pushed myself more, to beat my previous time...that...I could have made it in time.”

Sai and Naruto were jogging alongside each other. It was early morning and the grass was coated in dew. There was a wetness in the air and it was cool. It was his favorite time of the day. He found he could breathe easier in the morning time. Naruto recalled the memory. He had hallucinated himself bleeding out, Haku leaving him for dead, and then he passed out leaving Sai to take care of things alone.

“It wasn’t your fault, Sai.”

“I know...and it wasn’t yours either, Naruto.” 

“You better not treat me any different you bastard. I’m not somebody you need to wear kid gloves with. I can still kick your ass!” 

Sai laughed and Naruto turned at the sound of his laughter. It was candid and light. It was a beautiful sound. It was melodic and he was shocked such a sound could be emitted from him. He found himself smiling and chuckling himself. They turned around the bend in the path, and a sharp pain erupted from his left leg. There was an electrical short, and his left leg went into spasms. His knee locked up and the pain rushed up and down his spine. His vision blurred and he found himself falling forward. He caught himself with his knees and hands, skidding across the asphalt path. A cry escaped his mouth. 

“Naruto are you okay?” Sai asked bending down. 

“Fuck. I thought I was over this shit already…” Naruto exasperated. It was a side effect from the screws and bolts in his femur bone. Sometimes his leg went into spasms, and the neurons fired all at once, and it became a slab of deadmeat. Useless. He collapsed on the ground, slamming his fist down. 

“Go on without me, Sai. Just leave me to die with some dignity.”

“You know I can’t leave you alone. I’m too invested in your life...besides you’re my jogging buddy now. That kind of bond lasts forever even in death.”

“God you’re so fucking weird,” Naruto laughed and when he started he couldn’t stop. It was a deep belly laugh and it left him breathless. He held his hand out and Sai wrapped his hand around his. It was warm and it caused his heart to skip a beat, and butterflies filled his stomach. He looked up to see Sai smiling down. Fuck. Why was he feeling this way? He was growing more and more comfortable with Sai. 

His social circle was growing. He told Kurenai about Churchill and Thatcher, but she told him dogs didn’t count and he needed more human friends. It went from Sasuke to Ino to Shikamaru to Sai...and Sai was getting easier and easier to talk to, and everytime he received a text message asking Naruto if he wanted to go jogging he found himself giddy. He found himself smiling as he typed back an enthusiastic. Yes.

*****

“I love Sasuke...I just don’t know if I’m in love with him,” Naruto commented as he walked through the farmers market with Sai. They had finished jogging and decided to look through the farmers market that took up half the park. “I’ll always love him...but am I _in_ love with him?”

“You know you shouldn’t be talking about other guys when you’re with me. I might get jealous,” Sai spoke nonchalantly. Naruto rolled his eyes. He was tired of Sai teasing him. 

They stopped at one stand where there were handmade mugs with cute sayings. He picked up one that had a dismal saying. ‘ _You were my cup of tea...and now I drink coffee._ ’ He made a face and put it back. He didn’t like anything that made him think of Sasuke and their...friendship. 

“We aren’t actually dating…so...” Naruto lamented and gave him a droll look.

“Yeah but what if I’m falling for you? Even if you wear socks and sandals...I think you’re cute and I’m liking you in a ‘more than friends’ way.” 

Sai stepped closer to Naruto inches from his face. His fingers brushed against his cheek and brushed the blonde stands out of his eyes; smiling. Everything around them paused. The rest of the world disappeared. The air smelled of berries and flowers and honey. Sai pulled his hand back. Naruto was breathless. It felt like he was having a heart attack. It took a while to comprehend that Sai wasn’t teasing him and he was being serious...and it made Naruto really happy...really fucking happy and it felt like he was slowly being filled with helium. 

“Wh-what...are you serious?”

“Mhm. Why don’t you and I try the dating thing...”

“You’re asking me out here?”

“Two gay guys at a farmer's market? Can it get anymore cliche?” 

“I just told you...I don’t know if I’m still in love with Sasuke or not…”

“Isn’t this the best way? I’m not saying we have to get married and open up a bed and breakfast. I’m just saying it’ll be fun, slow, relaxed. I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do. But I will say that I already have the perfect name for the BnB.”

“And what’s that?” 

“Picture this...a log cabin named Morning Wood,” Sai whispered in his ear. His breath was hot and sent the tiny hairs on end. Naruto found himself laughing it was so ridiculous. He ended up pushing Sai away, but his fingers curled around Sai’s bicep and lingered for a moment before he pulled away. 

The next time he saw Kurenai he was pleased to inform her that he had been doing everything she had asked of him down to dating Sai, and things were going alright.

*****

Today was July 23th, and it was Sasuke’s twenty-first birthday. Naruto was giddy. He felt like a child. He was making a cucumber and tomato salad. He was humming along to the song that blared from his phone. The music abruptly stopped. His phone began to ring and he looked at it to see Sasuke was calling him. He dropped the knife and answered the phone.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, S’SKE!” Naruto cried out and physically jumped up and down in the kitchen. Sasuke had left early today. He slipped out when Naruto was still in the shower. He sent him a series of text messages asking what time he was going to be done with work, and going on a tangent that nobody should be required to work on their birthday in the first place. 

“Hey...Naruto…” Sasuke breathed. His voice sounded different. It sounded exhausted. Naruto cradled the phone with his shoulder and continued chopping up the cucumbers. Measuring so that they had the perfect thickness. 

“What time will you be home I have a surprise for you~”

“I’m not coming home until later. I took your advice and I started seeing someone. I’m going on a date with him tonight.” 

Naruto jerked his head and the phone fell. It slammed against the counter, hitting the cutting board. BAM. The sound caused him to jump out of his skin. He sliced his finger in the chaos. Shit. The blade cut deep into the flesh of his index finger. He dropped the knife and quickly picked up the phone. He ignored the blood that gushed from his fingers and spilled onto the cucumbers in angry red blots.

“You’re going on a date? With who?” Naruto couldn’t control his emotions. His voice was higher-pitched than he intended. His stomach filled with bile. He felt himself breathing faster. He was getting hot and itchy all over. 

“He’s an older guy...handsome...you don’t know him.”

“That’s fine...I’ll wait up for you. I want to~”

“No. I don’t know if I’ll be back. Anyways, I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.” 

There was a cold clicking noise. Followed by absolute silence. The call ended. Naruto clutched the phone in his hand. He crumpled up into a ball. It hurt. He was overwhelmed with emotions. He breathed heavily through his mouth. Composing himself. 

‘ _Pull yourself together you goddamn hypocrite. You can’t expect to force Sasuke to date only to have him date and then act like this...you fucking piece of shit. You’re a real piece of work. Pull yourself together you’re acting pathetic. This is exactly what you wanted...fucking selfish brat. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!_ ’

He stood up and placed his index finger in his mouth. He began sucking on it. It tasted metallic like pennies.

*****

Naruto sat on the couch in his living room. They couldn’t afford cable. Everything was streamed. They had a shitty internet provider and the service was spotty. It was acting up tonight and Naruto stared at the dark loading screen. The lights were off and he was sitting in the darkness. Had been staring at the loading screen for the past twenty-minutes. He wanted to watch Friends and disappear into their idyllic lives in NYC. Instead it continued to load and he was left alone with his thoughts.

His first thought was how goddamn hot it was in this apartment. Even with two fans the air felt suffocating and weighed heavy on him. He wanted to strip from his clothes and lay naked on the couch. It was late. He didn’t expect Sasuke to come back tonight. He was given fair warning that he might not return tonight. So why was he waiting up for him? 

He wasn’t tired. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. He felt like any minute he was ready to run, or fight. He was on edge. He told himself he was only going to wait up for ten more minutes before going to bed. He had to work in the morning. He wasn’t supposed to, but they called and asked if he’d come in, one of his coworkers called in sick. Naruto agreed. He was that dependable employee. That’s who he wanted to be perceived as. Wanted to be seen as dependable, trustworthy...honest. Everything he felt he wasn’t.

He heard the front door lock jingling. He jerked his head towards the door. The front door opened up into the living room. The door swung open and Naruto couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. It felt like he was deaf and blind. His eyes were looking at the scene in front of him but he wasn’t seeing. He heard the sound of smacking, lips pressed against each other, suckling, loud wet noises followed by moaning. It was foreign. Everything was foreign. 

Sasuke was intertwined with someone. An unknown male. He couldn’t even describe what the man looked like his whole attention was hyper-focused on Sasuke. The door slammed shut and the unknown man slammed Sasuke up against the door. His mouth went to his throat like a vampire who hadn’t fed in a hundred years. Sasuke was moaning loudly. His face flushed with passion. His eyes were closed. The man was unbuttoning Sasuke’s shorts his hands stuffing themselves roughly inside Sasuke’s boxers. Naruto couldn’t look away. It was like watching a car crash seeing the eighteen-wheel t-bone a chevy crown victoria and watching the car careen off the side of the road into a fiery explosion. 

Exactly like watching a horrific car crash. Where everyone was dead on arrival. 

The internet connection decided now was the perfect time to start working. The show loaded, the once darkened TV screen lit up, and the 90s laugh track filled the living room. Naruto’s eyes looked grimly towards the TV that was now filled with the gang inside Monica’s apartment in the middle of their hijinks. When he looked back he saw Sasuke’s eyes were open and he was staring directly at Naruto. He couldn’t read his expression...didn’t know what it said. 

They stared at each other for a moment. Naruto lost the ability to talk. Sasuke broke eye contact, and pulled the unknown guy. He lead them away, down their meager hallway, if it was even qualified as a hallway in their six hundred square foot apartment, and into his bedroom. 

Naruto heard the door slamming shut behind them. He was paralyzed unable to move even a muscle. He had to tell himself to breathe but he couldn’t. He was holding his breath. He felt dizzy. The internet connection shit the bed again and the TV went to the black loading screen. Silence filled the living room once more. Only. It wasn’t silent. Naruto heard everything that was going on in Sasuke’s bedroom. Who was on the otherwise of the living room wall. They were not being discrete. They were being loud. He heard everything. The moaning. The bedsprings. Their walls were paper thin. He couldn’t bear it anymore. 

He grabbed his wallet, keys, phone, and left the apartment disappearing into the night.


	53. Moonlight Sonata

# Moonlight Sonata 

 

Naruto was sitting at the counter of the 7 Eleven. He drummed his fingers on the countertop, legs bouncing up and down, and eyes darting back and forth out the window. He was passing time waiting for the three minutes for his instant cup of noodles. 

He could feel the beady-eyed, pimple-faced, worker staring at him from behind the register. He felt disgusted in his presence. He reminded him of the men who visited him at the Twin Trees Hotel. He ignored him and continued staring out the window. The worker tried to make small-talk, but Naruto brushed him off, and moved across the store; wishing he brought his baseball cap to be more inconspicuous. 

The alarm on his phone buzzed. The three minutes were up. He peeled the top back, stuck his chopsticks in, and just as he began shoveling the noodles into his mouth the employee appeared besides him. Fucking great. Naruto rolled his eyes in annoyance. The man was disproportionate, stick thin arms and legs, and a round cellulitis stomach spilling over his belt. Naruto glared at him from the corner of his eyes. The skin on the back of his neck prickled and the hairs on his arms stood on end. The man smelled of sweat and cum, and the way he was staring at him made Naruto want to break his fucking jaw. That leering look that said he just paid Zabuza one-hundred dollars and now he was going to do whatever he pleased with him.

“Are you Uzumaki Naruto?” the employee asked; every syllable seemed to take effort. Naruto looked out the window. Deadpan. 

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Uh-Yeah! I think I know my own goddamn name!” 

“You look exactly like him...has anyone ever told you that?”

“Leave me alone can’t you see I’m busy?”

“What are you doing here so late?”

“What’s it look like? I’m fucking eating!” 

The bells attached to the front door rang notifying of a new customer. The employee jumped. Naruto felt instant relief when he saw Sai’s reflection in the window. His eyes widened and he turned around needing concrete evidence that it was really Sai and not a hallucination; he’d been known to hallucinate in the past. But it’s been literal years since he last had a hit of Callisto. He was dry and sober. The employee shuffled back to his spot behind the register as Sai slid into a bar stool next to Naruto. 

“W-why are you here?” Naruto asked flabbergasted stirring the noodles around nervously. Sai looked at his mobile phone and began scrolling through their text conversations. 

“You sent me a series of bizarre text messages, and they were all about Sasuke.” 

Naruto vaguely remembered in a feverish state leaving the apartment and erupting all his incoherent, nonlinear, thoughts into a string of text messages to Sai. He felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He walked aimlessly around the streets before stumbling into the convenience store. Seeing Sasuke in such a state, with such a lewd expression, and intertwined with a nameless secondary character was enough of a shock he blacked out; and came to at the register buying .99 cent cup of noodles. It was surreal. 

“I’m...sorry…” Naruto apologized and rubbed the back of his neck dropping his eyes to the styrofoam cup. The noodles threatened to come back up from his stomach. 

“Don’t apologize I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You didn’t respond to my text messages.” 

“I didn’t know you...responded. How’d you find me?”

“Check your phone sometime. How’d I find you? Dumb luck. This was the second 24/7 store nearest your apartment. After this I was going to look for you in the park.” 

“I...barely remember the walk over here. I don’t know what’s going on.” 

“So Sasuke came home with a guy?”

“God I’m so fucking pathetic…!” Naruto yelled running a hand through his hair. He was trembling. He saw Sasuke’s eyes staring back at him and watched wordlessly as Sasuke led the man into his room. It left him fucking wrecked. He wasn’t ready for Sasuke to date. In that moment he hated Kurenai and her therapeutic postulations. 

“Mhm. You were the one who told Sasuke to date other people. You still love him it’s only natural for you to have this reaction. It’s better to feel than not to feel I suppose.” 

“Aren’t you mad at me? Don’t you hate me?”

“You have a way of making people care about you, Naruto.” 

“I KNEW IT!” the employee from the register interrupted; clearly eavesdropping. 

“Fuck off! Naruto is a common goddamn name, alright?” Naruto viciously yelled turning around and scowling at the employee. 

It startled Sai and he looked from the employee to Naruto, before grabbing hold of Naruto’s hand and leaving. He was taken by complete surprise by Sai’s actions. He allowed the other to drag him out of the store and back onto the streets. Sai didn’t let go of Naruto’s hand instead tightened his hold on him as he led him down the street. They walked in silence. Naruto held onto Sai’s hand and he allowed him to lead the way. He would have followed Sai anywhere. Even off a cliff. Actually he’d prefer to jump off a cliff right about now. His mind was so convoluted and full with thoughts and emotions and screenshots of Sasuke. He just wanted it to end. 

Sai gave Naruto a reassuring squeeze and it pulled him from his self-annihilating thoughts. 

“Are you feeling any better?” Sai asked after a while of aimless walking. Naruto shook his head no. They continued walking in silence. When Naruto looked up he noticed they were in the park. It was still the middle of the night and the street lamps hummed. When he looked up he saw swarms of insects buzzing around each bulb of light. It left eerie shadows on the ground. He dropped his eyes to Sai’s hand still holding his; refusing to let go. 

“Why...are you here?” Naruto asked.

“Like I said you have a way of making people worry about you, and I guess I like you too much I couldn’t just leave you alone with your thoughts. I know first hand how dangerous that is...I guess it’s why I go jogging so much.” 

Naruto felt a warmness in his chest. It was different than the sweltering temperatures of the summer night. It was soothing, gentle, and enveloped him in a hug. His vision blurred. He blinked. He felt hot tears rolling down his face. He could feel snot rolling down his nose, and he sniffled. Sai turned around and upon seeing Naruto’s crying face let go of his hand and wrapped his arms around him. That wasn’t what he should have done. It only made things worse. He started crying harder. It came from the depths of his soul. An ugly cry filled with aggro and despair. Like a wounded animal. It wasn’t fair. He cried like someone who had his heart torn to shreds. 

“It’s okay...tonight I’ll be your friend, and tomorrow I’ll go back to being your boyfriend,” Sai assured as he stroked Naruto’s back. Naruto wrapped his arms around Sai, buried his face in the crook of Sai’s neck, and continued to cry as the streetlamps hummed and the moths slammed their heads on the bulbed lights.

*****

Sasuke woke up the next day with a searing, throbbing, pain in his head. His brain felt scrambled and poached as if somebody couldn’t decide how they liked their eggs; and in the end it felt as if he was struck upside the head with the frying pan. The world pulsated and swirled around him. He was still drunk. He felt it, but sober enough to know how ill he was from the copious amounts of liquor he downed on an empty stomach the night before. Light only worsened his symptoms, and he fought back the urge to vomit. He needed to go to the toilet. Now. Or he wasn’t going to make it. The intense heat of the morning only made his nausea worse. He heard snoring, and turned to see a stranger in his bed. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Last night came rushing back all the way until he locked eyes with Naruto when he came home. It stopped and replayed. 

It was dark when he entered the apartment. He assumed Naruto was already in bed; and yet secretly wishing he was awake, and witnessed what Sasuke was doing. He purposely brought a stranger back. It wasn’t until he heard the 90’s laugh track that he opened his eyes to see Naruto on the couch that he didn’t want Naruto to see afterall; but he did. Cognitive dissonance. They locked eyes. The look on Naruto’s face was pure mortification. It was so dark he couldn’t see the blueness of his eyes. They looked like shallow, black, pools threatening to drown him. It left him breathless, but he was already aroused, and it was his birthday, and all he wanted was a night of mindless sex to forget about his life...forget about Naruto. 

Sasuke climbed out of bed to find he was naked, and every inch of him was sore and stiff. He looked down to see there was still a condom rolled up on his penis. He pulled it off and threw the soggy latex condom on the floor. Ah---at least he remembered to wear protection. He stumbled into the hallway. Glancing up. Naruto’s bedroom door was closed. Was he home? 

He didn’t just vomit...he fucking puked his brains out. 

He moved swiftly into the bathroom and emptied the contents of his stomach. He missed the toilet, but the second time he managed to position himself over the porcelain. The puke was violent, and ricocheted off the toilet striking Sasuke back in his face. This was fitting. He couldn’t stop puking until he wretched out his insides.

*****

“You look like shit...ugh and you smell like shit too,” Orochimaru commented as Sasuke entered the Book Ends store.

Sasuke felt like his stomach was attempting to disgust rusted screws and failing miserably. He’d puke some more except there was nothing left. He was dehydrated, hungover, and sore. He wore a pair of dark shades but it did little to curve his pounding headache. He’d call in if he didn’t need the goddamn money. The water bill was due. 

“Fuck off,” Sasuke answered. 

Orochimaru was in a tailored suit. He was sauve and composed, and it pissed Sasuke off as he stood their disheveled, unshowered, and reeking of puke and sweat. Orochimaru’s hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and he was wearing a pair of glasses; purely for fashion reasons. To give the illusion of intelligence. Sasuke scoffed. His own was unbrushed and unwashed. He should have thrown it up in a ponytail. Orochimaru handed him a thick, white, envelope. 

“What’s this?” Sasuke asked as he took it. 

“Half of your payment in cash, upfront like we discussed last night. Judging by the state you’re in you went home with that man? Whatever happened to your proclamation of love to Naruto?” 

“W-w-what?!”

“You went on and on about how much you love this Naruto kid and yet you left with another man. So typical of your generation. So predictable.”

Sasuke vaguely remembered spilling his guts to Orochimaru about his feelings for Naruto. It felt as if he was a member of the audience watching his life from afar. It left him jittery. He recalled cursing Naruto out for making him date other people, and he told Orochimaru the only way to pay him back in kind was to bring home a random hookup from the bar. He felt weakened. He remembered Orochimaru telling him to just go home, alone, but Sasuke didn’t, he went home with a stranger. 

“I can’t believe I told you anything…” Sasuke lamented. 

“It was a boring story. I barely remember. I’m not interested in the lives of teenage boys.”

“I’m 21!” 

“You have the emotional capacity of a 17 year old. I have already spoken to Jiraiya. He’s going to watch the store. I need you to begin working today.”

“I’m hungover.” 

“We all have to live with the consequences of our decisions. Now come on. I have an Uber waiting.” 

Sasuke followed Orochimaru into the backseat of the green Kia Soul. He was handed Orochimaru’s cell phone, day planner, and tablet with compactable keyboard. Sasuke juggled the items as Orochimaru began barking orders. 

“First, I want you to start answering my emails. Second, organize my schedule, and third when we reach the book signing I want you to fetch my Starbucks order. I want a grande Matcha Green Tea Creme Frappe.” 

Sasuke glowered back and pocketed the envelope, feeling uncomfortable that he was holding on to such a large amount of money. He made a note to deposit it as soon as possible. He opened the tablet and accessed the email figuring he’d start with answering a few emails in the car trip over. There were over a hundred unopened emails. He opened up one at random and began reading. 

“Did you run into Naruto last night?”

“What did you say?”

“You kept gloating that you wanted to make sure Naruto saw you...so did he? See you that is?”

“Yes.” 

“What was his reaction?” 

“I don’t know I went to my room.”

“Doesn’t he love you?” 

“He loves me. He just isn’t in love with me.”

“I wonder,” Orochimaru said as he pulled out a notepad and began jotting down notes. 

Sasuke glared at him and turned his attention back to the email. He felt his stomach sinking. He hadn’t seen Naruto at all this morning. He dreaded having to face him, and decided he was going to go back to the apartment even later tonight. He assumed Naruto was going to avoid him. He was wrong.

*****

Sasuke came back to the apartment late; opening the door he saw Naruto sitting on the couch watching an episode of Friends. The blonde practically leapt off the couch, but seeing it was just Sasuke, paused. Neither spoke. Awkwardness permeated like a gaseous poison. Sasuke closed the door and locked it behind him. He felt his face flushing. He was embarrassed. He wanted to disappear. He wanted to rewind time, and take Orochimaru’s suggestion and leave the bar alone.

Suddenly Sasuke was angry. Naruto was supposed to be sleeping, it was past midnight already, jeez doesn’t he ever sleep anymore? Is he going to wait up for him every night? Friends didn’t do that...lovers did. Right? 

“Hey…I...” Naruto greeted. 

Sasuke moved past him wordlessly, down the hallway, and into his room. He couldn’t face Naruto, couldn’t look him in the eyes, and couldn’t even bring himself to speak to him. It was easier to ignore him. He closed the bedroom door behind him, and his breath hitched. The hairs on the back of his neck and on his arm stood on end. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach. There was a colorful gift bag decorated in balloons and confetti at the foot of his bed, colorful tissue paper stuffed in the opening. He picked up the gift bag. It was heavy, and Sasuke went back out to the living room where Naruto returned to his side of the couch. 

“Did you do this?” Sasuke asked holding up the gift bag. The blonde turned to him. His eyes lit up at the sight of the gift bag in Sasuke’s hands. 

“Mhm. It’s your birthday present. I didn’t know when it was a good time to give it to you so I just left it in your room. So are you going to open it?” Naruto explained with a smile. It warmed Sasuke’s heart. It calmed him. Naruto was acting as if nothing happened last night. He felt relief. Sasuke sat down next to Naruto and began opening up his present. He felt giddy. Found himself smiling and then...

“You got me a plant?” Sasuke asked not hiding his disappointment. 

“It’s a spider plant!” Naruto defended. “It’s one of the best apartment plants to have. Don’t you think it’ll brighten up your bedroom? There are all sorts of benefits of having plants in your apartment- look!” 

Naruto held up the card that came with the spider plant. Sasuke took the card from Naruto and glanced over the list. Health Benefits. Purifies the air. Blah-blah. Low Maintenance. Blah-blah. Hard to Kill. Interesting. It was still a plant. Something he’d have to take care of when he was already taking care of himself and Naruto. 

Sasuke looked back in the gift bag and pulled out a tea forte oasis tea chest. Expensive. It was expensive tea and he glared at Naruto wanting to lecture him on the value of money. He looked back at the different flavors of green tea. His chest ached. Naruto knew he loved green tea. Next he pulled out a mug that had a personified dinosaur tea-bag with the words ‘Tea-Rex’ on the side. Such a stupid pun. He hated it. So stupid. Idiotic. It hurt to breathe. 

“There’s this stall at the farmers market and all of these mugs are homemade. It’s funny right? A Tea-Rex, aha!” Naruto explained his voice filling with laughter. No doubt he went to the farmers market with Sai. 

He reached back into the bag and there was a square package covered in tissue paper. He unwrapped it to reveal a framed photo of Sasuke and Naruto. His heart stopped. His breathing stopped. He shut down. It was a photo from when they were both 13 years old. They were holding the championship soccer trophy. Naruto was looking at the camera. He was smiling and laughing, and Sasuke could hear the infectious laughter from that moment. In the picture Sasuke was also smiling but his attention was focused solely on Naruto, one arm swung over Naruto’s neck and the other helped hold up the trophy. This was his favorite gift. Ever. He held it delicately in his hands and smiled. The memory of that day came back as clear as if it happened yesterday. His heart started beating, he inhaled, and unpaused. 

“Do you like it? Look how young we look!” Naruto commented as he pointed at their younger selves. 

“I love it,” Sasuke answered his voice hoarse. 

“It’s one of my favorite memories. That game...we crushed it. I wish we could go back to that day.” 

“You kissed me that night.”

“Huh?!”

“This was the night you kissed me. Don’t you remember?”

“Y-yeah and you told me I kissed like a fish, ya bastard.”

“I was lying. It took me by surprise was all. You told me it was for practice. Were you lying?”

“Well yeah I just wanted an excuse to kiss you.”

“Knew it,” Sasuke laughed shaking his head. It felt good to confirm it even though he knew the answer from the beginning. Hearing Naruto admit it was enough, and he wished Naruto would use cheap tricks again to try to kiss him. He knew he’d succumb easily to the prey. 

He felt endorphins flooding his bloodstream and he felt light and happy. Thinking back to the first time Naruto kissed him; inside Naruto’s bedroom. He remembered Sasuke brought his face close to Naruto's pressing his lips, and oohing his mouth open, exploring Naruto's mouth with his tongue, tasting Naruto's mouth, savoring in it. The taste of colgate toothpaste greeted him. The kiss deepened and lengthened. Naruto responded, and Sasuke felt Naruto's tongue against his, felt Naruto's tongue begin to explore his mouth, begin to taste Sasuke. 

He blinked and Naruto was sitting in front of him smiling back. In the living room of their apartment. 

“We never had clear boundaries with each other...have we?” Naruto asked with an unsure smile. 

“Not since we were ten.”

“Ten? What happened when we were ten?”

“That night I came to your house to tell you to go back to school, and we fell asleep. I woke up and kissed you while you slept.” 

“You did?! You sleeping-beauty kissed me?! So the time in the closet wasn’t our first kiss?!” 

“Mhm. I already stole your first kiss years before.” 

“Cheap bastard…” Naruto commented and there was a subtle silence. Naruto quickly filled it by immediately changing the topic, “I also made you a cucumber tomato salad. It’s in the fridge.” Sasuke briefly forgot about the rules Naruto established. 

Sasuke grew quiet, somber, and serious. He stared at Naruto as he spoke. He felt guilty. He felt shameful. He felt...dirty for what he did last night. He cleared his throat, “I’m sorry Naruto for last night.” He wanted to talk about it. 

“What? Don’t apologize! It felt like I was interrupting so I just left. I think we need a system for next time. Ya know? Like send me a text or something, and I can make myself disappear.” 

“You’re not mad at me?” Sasuke asked. He wanted Naruto to be jealous, angry, upset. He wanted Naruto to tell him to not date anyone but him, not to kiss anyone but him, not to sleep with anyone but him; and Sasuke would agree. Instead the response he got was the complete opposite. It was of encouragement and he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and never come out. 

“Of course not! I’m happy for you. I just don’t want things to be awkward between us. It’s not awkward between us is it?”

“No...never. Thank you for the birthday gifts. Even if the plant is more of a chore, heh. I’m really tired so I’m going to bed. G’night.”

“G’night, S’ske.” 

“No...stop calling me that...it’s Sasuke. You go on and on about these rules, well I don’t want you to call me that again, it’s Sasuke, just Sasuke. Alright? And stop spending money so recklessly. $80 for tea is excessive. If you have so much money to waste why don’t you pay the water bill that’s coming up. And don’t forget rent is due on the 1st.”

“Oh...okay-okay. I got it-got it. Sorry. I’ll pay the water bill, no problem.”

“Mhm okay. I’m glad we’re on the same page...well-uh goodnight,” Sasuke grabbed his birthday presents and returned to his bedroom. Sasuke set the spider plant on his nightstand, and set the framed picture on his dresser. The tea and mug remained in the gift bag at the foot of his bed. If they were going to follow through with rules and boundaries and remain strictly platonic. Sasuke needed to go all in.


	54. In the House, In a Heartbeat

# In the House, In a Heartbeat 

 

Their dynamics changed. 

It was as if they were moving backwards from the whole to the part. The picture shattered into fragments. In the sweltering heat of July their relationship changed. Maybe it was for the better. Maybe it was what needed to happen for them to move from the darkness into the light. To allow purification by fire, because only physical fire can cleanse spiritual impurities, and Naruto and Sasuke were full of spiritual impurities. With each other and with the world. Naruto took notice of this and wanted to change it. Although his hamfisted attempt was laughable.

Naruto was more attuned to the little nuances of change within Sasuke and he hated it. Whereas Naruto found himself getting healthier he felt Sasuke becoming sicker, and he witnessed a descent. But a descent into what exactly? Into hell?

There was a distance forming between them, and he wondered if Sasuke sensed it too. It started out small, like the beginning of a stream and as the summer grew longer, in that insufferable heat, the distance grew and widened until there was a raging rapid river between them. The current was too strong, and if either swam across to greet the other they’d surely drown. Naurto didn’t want to admit it, but he had helped create it. At least the blueprints. And had the audacity to cry out for help as he struggled to stay afloat. 

It began when Naruto received a text message warning him that Sasuke was going to be bringing _somebody_ back to the apartment. It was exactly what Naruto told Sasuke to do. Warn him. The equivalent of a sock on the door handle. In modern times, it was a quick FYI text message. The reality was more nerve-wracking. The vibration of the text message felt like a category five earthquake, and it scrambled up his insides in a dizzying array of emotions as he read the black and gray text. 

Naruto was eating a bowl of ice cream out on the balcony. While the realtor called it ‘ _a balcony_ ’ in truth it was a sliding glass door that lead to a foot long platform enclosed by a metal fence. His back was pressed against the metal bars, eyes stared up at the moonless sky, and his legs were stretched out into the living room. He had taken a box fan and set it up on the floor so that it blew on him. It was his favorite way to cool off when the summer night air was so hot and stale that even the mosquitoes were grounded. 

He looked at the screen of his phone reading Sasuke’s text message a few times before responding with his own black and blue text. He asked how long it was going to be before Sasuke came back. He stared at the screen watching the three ellipses bouncing-signifying Sasuke was typing out a response. 

‘ _I’m coming up now._ ’ Naruto rolled his eyes. Of _course_ he was. 

It barely gave him enough time to disappear. Naruto stood up, dragged the fan, his cell phone, and bowl of ice cream into the bedroom just as he heard the front door lock jiggling. The walls were paper thin. He could hear everything regardless of where it occurred within their apartment. Could describe it in detail. Naruto set up the fan in his window, and sat on the edge of his bed as the wind blasted in his face and ate the half-melted Neapolitan ice cream. Pretending not to hear the noises coming from Sasuke’s bedroom on the other side of the wall. He felt anxious. Bile dumped into his stomach. It killed his appetite. His chest ached and filled up with an unknown pressure as if someone was blowing up balloons inside his lungs, and laughed as he struggled to breathe. He always carried his anxiety in his chest, not his shoulders like others. 

He glared at the wall. His mind filled in the rest. 

The noises were pornographic. Amplified. Obnoxious. Was it happening on purpose, or was the mix of alcohol the reason for the no holds barred sounds emitting from their throats? Fucking animals. He didn’t want to think about it any longer. Naruto grabbed his wireless headphones and pulled them over his ears and turned them on. It automatically connected to his phone and his playlist began playing. His skull instantly flooded with instrumental followed by Brian Molko’s distinctive, nasally, high-pitched vocals in a Mokhov remix. 

He placed the half-melted bowl of ice cream on the floor, stripped to his boxers, and fell back onto his bed. It was much too hot to sleep beneath blankets or sheets. The sound created a much needed barrier from what was happening inside Sasuke’s room. 

Even though he couldn’t _hear_ what was going on it still hurt in his chest. It felt like he was experiencing a heart attack. Sasuke in the other room with someone else...physically hurt. He had no one else to blame. He’d like to blame Kurenai. It wasn’t her fault. It was his fault. Their boundaries had been blurred since the beginning and he needed to outline where they ought to have been in permanent marker. Sasuke was doing everything Naruto told him to do, and honestly he should be grateful. 

This was good. He needed this. He needed to feel this. He was being selfish. He wasn’t being fair to Sasuke. He wasn’t being fair to Sai.

...Sai. He forgot he was in a relationship with another man. So why was he acting jealous of _whoever_ was with Sasuke right now? But who was he with? A woman or another man? He shook his head. It didn't matter. Yes it did. He wanted Sasuke with another woman...not another man. He rolled over and buried his head in his pillow. He bit his pillow and clamped down. 

He had to grow up eventually, he couldn’t be one of the Lost Boys playing with Peter Pan in Neverland forever. Because unlike Peter Pan. The Lost Boys grew up...and if they didn’t escape, and Peter found out, he’d kill them. 

***** 

The next morning Naruto was waiting for the coffee to finish brewing when he heard the bedroom door open. He heard footsteps coming down the hallway. His eyes flickered to the kitchen door expecting to see Sasuke instead he saw a female with sangria red hair flipping in all directions. His eyes widened. He recognized her. He saw her infrequently around campus the year and a half he attended Konoha Preparatory School. Every time he saw her she always gave him a look of contempt, and wrinkled her nose as if he was nothing more than dog shit she was smelling. 

“Karin?!” Naruto balked nearly dropping the mug in his hands. He couldn’t believe he remembered her name. Her name came out of the depths of hell. He looked her up and down. She was wearing one of Sasuke’s shirts. A faded band shirt that reached her thighs. It didn’t look good on her. She had long hair that reached the middle of her back, and a choppy fringe across her forehead. A pair of thick black glasses on her nose. She had wide shoulders, a small chest, and a narrow waist. 

“Good morning. I was going to make Sasuke some coffee but it turns out you already did that.” Karin greeted not hiding her disgust when she saw Naruto in the kitchen. She walked over to the cupboard and opened them until she found the coffee mugs. She grabbed one, flipped it over, and began pouring the freshly brewed coffee into the mug while Naruto watched speechless. Naruto noticed it was the mug he had given Sasuke for his birthday. She made herself home too easily. It unnerved him. In the game of dominance Karin’s sheer confidence overpowered Naruto and he felt himself shrink. 

“We aren’t related.” Karin spoke taking her burgundy eyes to meet Naruto’s.

“W-what?” He blinked. Her statement came out of left field. 

“You and I. We aren’t actually related even if we have the same last name.” Naruto stared blankly at her and she continued. “My last name is Uzumaki. But we’re not related. It’s a coincidence.” 

“Oh believe me I never once thought we were related.” Naruto snorted in disbelief as he grabbed the pot of coffee and poured himself some. He needed gallons of coffee to get through another moment with Karin. 

“Sasuke told me you’re dating Sai. Seems it wasn’t a phase you were going through in high school, huh? He also told me that you’ve been living together for almost a year. Isn’t that cute. I told him he should move out and get his own apartment. Sharing apartments with childhood friends is juvenile. We all have to grow up eventually.” Karin spoke with a cold smile and she rested her hand on her nonexistent hipbone. 

In any other circumstance Karin's coldness would have been welcomed, however as it was Karin spewing ignorance, it caused Naruto to glare back resentfully. She brought the mug to her lips and took a sip. Her eyes challenging him. She wanted to get under his skin and wanted a reaction out of him. Naruto ignored her at first, and continued dumping spoonfuls of sugar into his black coffee before stirring vigorously. 

“Wow interesting what else did he tell you?” Naruto asked sarcastically when he couldn’t not say anything any longer. He left the spoon in the mug and spun around. Everything she said felt like a dagger being thrown at him. Her tongue was sharp. She came into the kitchen with a full arsenal poised to launch an all out attack, and Naruto was caught unaware and with little defenses. 

“That he’s completely over you.” Karin continued. Bingo. She was envious. That’s all it was. She felt inferior. Even after all these years she was still helplessly in love. A school girl’s crush. Naruto wasn’t afraid. He was more afraid of Sakura in the library than he was of Karin in the kitchen. He scoffed at himself for thinking she was able to throw him out of homeostasis. 

“And what...now he’s under you?” Naruto countered. He was growing increasingly irate. Impatient. Thankful that he didn’t need to wear the mask of politeness and friendliness like he had to growing up. He didn’t have to be diplomatic anymore. He told Sasuke to warn him when he was bringing somebody back to the apartment, but he _never_ said he wanted to share coffee with them the next morning. 

“Exactly.” 

“He seemed to have told you a lot. Did he tell you that on his birthday night he brought home some random guy he met at the bar and screwed him? Oh wait that was seven days ago. Huh. Interesting.” Naruto spoke defiantly. He brought his eyes to Karin’s as he brought the mug to his lips, and took a sip of three-fourths sugar and one-fourth coffee. He knew how the game was played. 

“Wh-what?” Karin was visibly shook.

It took a few seconds to register that he wasn’t lying. Naruto nodded his head in affirmation. Her face turned pale and pallid. Her eyebrows widened and then furrowed together. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Naruto tilted his head in anticipation. She spun on her heels leaving the kitchen without another word. Naruto exhaled and leaned against the counter. He smiled triumphantly and continued sipping his coffee. He loved the smell of victory in the morning. His eyes shifted to the clock on the microwave. He had to get ready or he was going to be late. Thatcher and Churchill awaited him. 

*****

Naruto’s mind was so clouded that he barely reacted nor registered when Thatcher, the one-hundred and twenty pound dog, jumped on him and knocked him to the ground. He blinked and found himself knocked on his back, staring up through the gnarled tree branches of the lush greenery in the park. There was a breeze that picked up and shifted through the leaves. Churchill began licking his face while Thatcher proceeded to bark in irritation as they remained hooked up to the belt secured around Naruto’s waist, unmoving. They barely made one lap around the park and Naruto’s lethargic movements had angered the twin mastiffs who liked to prowl for strange men in beards and hats. 

“You took a nasty spill--did you sustain a head injury?” an unknown male voice broke through the dense fog of Naruto’s mind and caused him to blink back into consciousness. He suddenly felt embarrassment wash over him, and he pushed himself into a sitting position. His eyes searching for the owner of the voice. Although he was wearing a baseball cap and inconspicuous clothing he still felt exposed. 

“Guess not?” the voice continued and Naruto turned to see an older man sitting on a stone bench, underneath the flowering dogwood tree, on the other side of the asphalt path. The man’s skin was the same shade as the dogwood flower and his long black hair was pulled into a low ponytail. His eyes were slits of yellow resembling a king cobra’s, and he appeared poised to attack. 

“Oh...it’s you. What are you following me now?” Naruto asked. He righted himself and walked towards the man tugging the mastiffs along. "Red next to yellow can kill a fellow. Red next to black a friend of Jack.” He recited a poem he learned in his childhood regarding distinguishing from harmless and venomous snakes. 

“What are you doing reciting nursery rhymes?” Orochimaru asked as he watched Naruto sit down beside him on the stone bench. Naruto rolled his eyes. The mastiffs happy at first to finally be moving seemed to physically deflate when Naruto sat back down, and both pulled on their leash anxiously down the path. Naruto ignored this and glanced at the writing pad and pen in Orochimaru’s hand, and sighed. 

“Writing another book about me you washed out has been, Jackie-boy?” Naruto asked not hiding the impatience and annoyance in his voice. 

“So you did read my book? What did you think?” Orochimaru asked. It was the only time when his face twisted up into amusement, and he inadvertently leaned closer to Naruto in anticipation of his response. 

“Oh aren’t you cute. You actually think you’re a good writer? It was trivialized and sensationalized. You captured nothing of the reality. I’ve read more believable articles in the National Enquirer than the ‘ _based on true events_ ’ garbage you published.” Naruto chastised. His tongue was sharp and his eyes sharper like the blade of a katana poised at Orochimaru’s juglar. It was much more liberating to freely reveal his thoughts and feelings. He’d like nothing more than to behead him in one fluid movement before sheathing the katana as his head bounced and rolled on the asphalt. 

Orochimaru smirked. “You’re the only one who seems to understand the true meaning behind my book. Even the critics haven’t drawn the parallels of the main character to you.” 

Naruto shrugged to indicate he didn’t care and stared back deadpan as Orochimaru continued. 

“Star Crossed Lovers of the Police Commissioner's son and the Yandaime’s son. My next book will be titled ‘ _The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon_ ’.” 

“What did you say?”

“I’m working on my next book. You’re the dish and Sasuke is the spoon.” 

“Are you fucking kidding me? Do I have to put a restraining order against you?” Naruto shouted as he jumped to his feet. If he was going to bash his teeth in he better do it from a standing position so he could gather more momentum and force. 

“I’m kidding-I’m kidding...but the look of murderous intent in your eyes is awe-inspiring, Naruto.” 

Naruto remained standing, and scowled down at the author. It was obvious when Naruto received the book in the mail that the book was about him and Juzo. The metaphor of dead cats in mailboxes everywhere the main protagonist went mirrored the imagery of dead children found at bus stops. The antagonist was a megalomaniac serial killer playing a cat and mouse game with the prep school brat. Naruto didn’t want to admit it but he read it all in one go. He couldn’t put it down. It was cathartic. Even though he hated the main character. He was strong-willed, witty, and likable. Naruto was rooting for him throughout the book. Nothing like the reality. It was so far from the truth it was laughable. The main character was nothing-nothing-nothing like Naruto. 

Naruto remained silent thinking that when he finished reading the book he immediately tossed it in the trash. It was enough of a pause for Orochimaru to interrupt. 

“You vanished into obscurity...there was high expectations of you Naruto. You could have taken this and made something out of yourself. You could have been a motivational speaker, appearing on talk shows, and news channels. There could have been a movie about you, a documentary, a TV drama based on your life. The city and the world supported you and believed in you. They would have followed you anywhere you went. You could have been anything, done anything, and yet here you are in the park on a Monday morning walking dogs. It's disappointing.” 

Naruto was startled. It felt as if he had taken a physical blow to the stomach, chest, and back of the head. His stomach twisted and knotted. He lost the ability to breathe on his own, and his vision blurred and softened around the edges like an out of focus camera. Thatcher barked at him and Churchill soon joined his sister. It grounded him. Pulled him from his head as Orochimaru continued his onslaught. 

“Sasuke graduated with a 4.2 GPA. He had full-ride scholarships to Ivy League schools and he turned them all down...for what? To be a cashier at a failing bookstore?”

“I can’t speak for Sasuke, but he’s in full control of his own life.”

“Something tells me that’s a lie and _you’re_ in control of _his_ life, and it’s pathetic. Both his and your lives.” 

Naruto combed his fingers through his hair and smirked. He shook his head and slammed his foot on top of the stone bench between Orochimaru's legs, and leaned down to stare, unblinking, into Orochimaru’s eyes. 

“I already did the whole prostituting thing with a gun to my head. I’ve lived my whole life being forced to do things I didn’t want to do. Until I took that gun and pulled the trigger back at the owner. It’s strange how all the power shifts to the one holding the gun. I cut my strings, and told myself I’ll never be someone else’s puppet ever again. If I decide to go to college it means _I_ decided on which college and which major, not because someone forced me to, or it’s because I ought to follow in my father’s footsteps. So if it’s a Monday and I’m at the park waking Thatcher and Churchill it means _I_ chose to, you callous bastard.”

Naruto grabbed a fistful of Orochimaru’s black shirt, and jerked him close. Bridging the gap between them until there were only a few inches apart. His voice dropped and his eyes turned into slits of black. The air around him changed. It became colder and a darkness settled over them as if there was a solar eclipse. The sun in the sky dimmed and disappeared. Orochimaru stared up completely silent and hypnotized by Naruto’s ever-changing presence. 

“You know _Jack_...I’ve become somewhat of a savant when it comes to judging people. I’ve never met someone who wanted to be me so much as I have when I met you. It’s pathetic. You’re pathetic. Appear before me again and I’ll report you to the police for harassment. I may not look it, but I hold an awful lot of power even with me living in obscurity. The only reason I’m allowing your circus performance of a book tour is because you offered Sasuke a pretty penny to be your assistant, and what makes Sasuke happy makes me happy. How do I know this information? Because I have people watching your every move. You think you can write a book about me and expect nothing to happen?” 

Naruto touched the skin between Orochimaru’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows with his index finger. He tapped a few times, before pressing his nail into his skin. Smiling coldly down. The corners of his lips peeled back to reveal a crooked smile. There were darkened shadows under his eyes as if there were an invisible flashlight shining under his chin, illuminating his face into something menacing. Orochimaru’s eyes widened and beads of sweat formed on his temples. 

“You’d look so much better with a bullet here. Just like in Alice in Wonderland we can paint the roses red.” Naruto purred. “You write another book about me and that reality will come true. You wouldn't want to become a dead man would you Jack? Oh...and Jack? I think you want to give Sasuke a raise for having to deal with your pompous ass. Right, Jack? Yeah...that's what I thought. Good day.” He patted Orochimaru on the cheek condescendingly when Orochimaru nodded his head up and down.

Naruto spun on his heels, and walked away continuing the path around the perimeter of the park much to the enjoyment of the mastiffs. 

Orochimaru who had unconsciously held his breath throughout the entire exchange exhaled loudly. He began to laugh nervously. Goosebumps covered his arm and the hair on his neck stood on end. A shiver went down his spine and he began to loosen up. He didn’t realize how tightly wound up he was until Naruto left. It was something he hadn’t felt in a while, and he quickly began jotting down notes. 

*****

Orochimaru pushed open the door of the Book End’s store. The bell rang and he looked up to see Jiraiya behind the register reading what looked like a dirty Italian comic book. He rolled his eyes. Some things never change. Jiraiya looked up immediately noticing Orochimaru’s shaken appearance and pallid skin. His eyebrows raised in curiosity. 

“What’s up with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Jiraiya asked. 

“I ran into Uzumaki Naruto…” Orochimaru began but was interrupted by Jiraiya. “You mean you followed him? Orochimaru what did I tell you? Christ leave-”

“The little brat threatened me...and I believed it!” 

“Threatened you how? The kid walks dogs for crying out loud. Stop being dramatic.” Jiraiya hollered with glee not believing him at all before he went back to the graphic comic book. 

“Yeah-yeah-yeah. I guess it does sound ridiculous, but you weren’t there. Anyways where is Sasuke?” Orochimaru asked looking around the bookstore. Jiraiya checked the large roman numeral clock on the wall. “He should be here any minute for his shift. The kid is always punctual.” 

Orochimaru walked to the counter and rested his elbows on the counter and stared at Jiraiya until the man looked up from his comic book. He was still shaken up from his adventure in the park and his encounter with Uzumaki Naruto.

“He told me if I wrote another book he was going to put a bullet between my eyes.” Orochimaru explained seriously. There was a pause. A silence that settled over the bookstore before it was filled with Jiraiya’s contagious laughter. It was a loud, raucous, belly laughter that brought tears to his dark brown eyes. He balled his hand into a fist and pounded on the counter as he continued to laugh uncontrollably. 

“Stop it. You weren’t there. He even touched me...he Robert DeNiro’d me! It was some coldblooded gangster shit.” 

All that greeted Orochimaru was laughter. He crossed his arms and clenched his teeth waiting for it to end. He could feel his vein throbbing in his forehead. 

“Orochimaru you act like this serpent of the darkness but you’re nothing but a scaredy-cat in the night. You tried bullying a kid and you got your lunch money stolen! Typical Orochimaru-style!” Jiraiya hollered. The front door chimed as the door was pushed open to reveal a broaden Sasuke. 

“Not a word Jiraiya!” Orochimaru hissed. 

“Yeah you got a ‘ _reputation_ ’ to uphold. Wouldn’t want a big bad wolf to blow it away!” Jiraiya forced out between fits of laughter. 

“Sasuke glad you’re on time. Let’s go I can’t stand another minute with this blithering idiot!” 

*****

Naruto was sprawled on the living room floor. The box fan pointed at his feet and was blowing warm air at him. The sliding glass door was open. The TV was off. It was Friday night. He was on the phone with Ino who was trying to convince him to go to club Sortie. Although his answer was always ‘no’ she still called and invited him out every time. It was beginning to gnaw at him. The guilt. His ineptitude. His steadfast responses and alienation of remaining a homebody holing himself up in his apartment. She was getting ready, and he could almost picture it as if it was happening in front of him. She was seated in front of her vanity table applying makeup. He smiled to himself. He enjoyed hanging out with Ino. Always had. Tonight was different. Her going out was purposeful. She and Shikamaru had an argument, and she needed to 'let loose'. 

The front door lock unclicked and Naruto tipped his head back to see the door opening and Sasuke appearing. Naruto lowered the phone and raised his hand in greeting. He wasn't expecting Sasuke home so early and so...sober.

“Yo.” Naruto said using a breezy voice. He wanted to act as natural as possible. Even though his heart was beating steadfast. 

“You’re home?” Sasuke asked. “Where’s Sai?” Naruto didn't know why he was asking. Naruto never invited Sai over. 

“He’s getting ready for an art exhibit.” Naruto answered nonetheless. Sasuke rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath. “Of course he is.” Naruto raised his eyebrows. 

“Who are you on the phone with?” Sasuke asked changing topics.

“Ino.”

“What does she want?”

“She wants me to go out tonight I told her…”

“Oh where is she going?”

“Club Sortie.”

“Tell her I’ll go.” 

“Wait...what?!”

“Tell her I’ll go...it’s Friday night. I need to relax. Actually I’ll tell her.” Sasuke spoke as he grabbed the phone from Naruto’s hand and began having a conversation with Ino. He straightened up and began walking to his bedroom. Naruto remained still on his back blinking. He could feel the heat from Sasuke’s fingers brushing against his as he took the phone, and then Sasuke was gone. He could hear him talking in his bedroom hashing out the details. He listened to Sasuke opening his closet door. He pushed himself up and appeared in Sasuke’s doorway.

“You’re going out tonight?” Naruto asked as he watched Sasuke pick out clothes. 

“Yeah.”

“I thought we could hang out together. We haven’t hung out just the two of us in a while.”

“Then come out tonight.” 

“I…” Naruto croaked. Sasuke knew that Naruto had a panic attack the first and only time he took Ino’s suggestion and went out. It was too much. The loud music. The crowded room. All the eyes staring at him. He panicked. Refused every invitation since.

“Stay here then. But I’m going out. Now excuse me while I change.” Sasuke commented matter-of-factually. He gave Naruto back his cellphone then closed the door on him. Naruto swallowed. 

*****

“NARUTO!” Ino squealed as she wrapped her arms around Naruto’s neck. She smashed her swollen chest against his and he froze up. He glanced at Sasuke, but Sasuke was looking at the long line of people waiting to get in. Naruto shifted his attention back to Ino. He still struggled with physical touch. He was doing better. He didn't physically cringe anymore and recoil back. Sasuke smiled when Ino turned her attention to him. She didn’t wrap her arms around him. It was obvious she still found him attractive and instead initiated self-control. 

“Sasuke. You’re looking good tonight.” Ino commented as she eyed him up and down. 

Sasuke was wearing a skin-tight tank with a plunging neckline underneath an unbuttoned black shirt. A gold chain, and tight ripped black jeans. He wore a black wristband and smelled of Yves Saint Laurent. In comparison Naruto made zero effort. He wore a plain-tee and baggy jeans that were rolled up at the ankles. 

“Let’s go.” 

Ino said excitedly, and she walked the two to the front of the line. Naruto could feel the hatred as the eyes of those waiting in line bore holes into his shoulder blades. She told the bouncer who she was and he let them in. No questions asked. They didn't even have to show them their ID's. It was her name, her bloodline. Her parents were famous in their own right. He recalled Ino getting them all into the premiere of the new Wes Anderson film back in high school. Naruto stole a glance at Sasuke once they were inside. He wasn’t even paying attention to Naruto. He barely spoke to him on the bus ride over and now he had an excuse to avoid him altogether. It made him uncomfortable. 

“Do you want a drink?” Sasuke asked Ino. She was underage just like Naruto was. They were both Libras whereas Sasuke was a Leo. She nodded her head yes. Being underage never stopped any of them from drinking. The rules were different. They always had played by different rules. 

“Naruto?” Sasuke asked as he turned to Naruto. "Do you want a drink?" 

Was he teasing him? Mocking him? Was this some sort of test? Naruto stared back at Sasuke trying to read him. He furrowed his eyebrows as Sasuke smirked. He didn’t drink. He wouldn’t do anything that altered his consciousness. Not anymore. He spent too long trying to feel normal he wasn’t going to ruin it. If he was going to ruin it he wouldn't drink alcohol he'd go to the Guys and Dolls strip club and score Callisto. Kurenai said he had an addictive personality. Impulsivity. Sensation seeking. Nonconformity. Heightened stress. Social alienation. All the boxes were checked. He didn’t want to slip and slide. He was sober. He was clean. He’d piss clean, and he wanted to keep it that way. He shook his head no. Sasuke was teasing him, mocking him, making a fool out of him, and Naruto watched as Sasuke made it to the bar. Asshole. 

The inside of the club was bigger than it appeared. It resembled a club that would be featured in a music video or in a scene from a movie. Electric sex was being pumped through the speakers. His favorite feature were the caged dancers doing acrobatics in scantly clad outfits. He averted his eyes. They were all female. He began to pay attention to the music. It was a remix of multiple songs expertly weaved together. Ino threw her hands up and began singing along as she moved deeper on the dance floor. Naruto tried to recall the two songs that were spliced together. It had a good beat. Strobe lights flashed around and colored lights moved throughout the crowd. Everyone around them were dancing wildly.

“Is Shikamaru going to join us?” Naruto asked as he followed Ino. He wouldn't be surprised if before the night was done Shikamaru came to drive Ino back home. She shrugged and continued to sing along to the song. Naruto stood next to Ino. He felt awkward and out of place. The last time he was in a club was during his two week sabbatical from the psychiatric hospital where he went on a bender. 

“We never see eye to eye. He wants me to sit at home and play Shoji with him, or go apple-picking, or to a bed and breakfast in the mountains. He acts like we're in our 50s, not 20s! But girls just wanna have fun!” 

Naruto’s stomach flopped. Playing Shogi with Shikamaru sounded good right about now. Actually apple-picking and a bed and breakfast sounds like a perfect miniature vacation. Shikamaru was never the loud and flashy type. He was lazy and reserved, but faithful and good-natured. He reminded himself to text Shikamaru and offer to be his opponent in Shoji in the future. 

“You can’t just stand there Naruto! Can't you at least pretend you're having fun?” Ino lectured with her haughty voice. Sasuke appeared carrying mixed drinks. He handed one to Ino who squealed in delight. She was the sequential ‘woo girl’ that sitcoms poked fun of. Naruto glanced at Sasuke who went back to ignoring him again. Naruto’s eyebrows raised as he watched Sasuke dancing. He was swaying his body to the beat of the snare drum. His eyes moved to Sasuke’s hips and he stared almost hypnotically. He didn't expect Sasuke to be so...loose and free. Their roles were reversed. Naruto felt numb. 

“What are you staring at?” Sasuke asked with a smirk. Naruto snapped his eyes up to greet Sasuke. 

“He’s staring at you baby and those sexy dance moves! I didn’t think you had it in you but look at you go!” Ino interrupted and pressed her body up against Sasuke’s. Naruto stepped back and watched them dance together, regretting coming out, yet he didn't want to spend the night home alone either. Catch 20-20. Ino sucked her drink down, but it was obvious by her voice and movements she had pregamed prior to going out. She was already flying high on the alcohol rush as she sucked more alcohol through the black straw to maintain her intoxication level. 

“I can’t blame him.” Sasuke answered Ino, and he proceeded to match her body and her movements with his own. 

Naruto turned away and his eyes flickered through the crowd. He was less anxious than the last time Ino invited him out. The first time it was a dive bar with half the people. He didn’t feel claustrophobic. He felt awkward and out of place, but there was no intense fear or worry. His eyes bounced off everyone’s face in the vicinity. Everybody was absorbed in the music and with each other that nobody paid attention to Naruto, and if they did, they were all too drunk, or high, to notice. Nobody recognized him and he relaxed. 

He did a body check. He was...okay. He was intact. His heartbeat was normal. His breathing was normal. He wasn’t elevated. He was calming down. He was going to be okay. He began to loosen up a little, and just before he started to sway his body to the new song he was interrupted.

“If you’re going to just stand there why don’t you get Ino and I another drink?” Sasuke asked. Naruto turned around and shrugged his shoulders. “Okay.” He answered. 

He left and made his way to the bar. He did multiple body checks as he maneuvered through the crowd. There were more people than when they first came into the club. He wondered if it was overcrowded. He wondered if it was a fire violation. He shook his head. That’s why they had bouncers. They had to control for things like this. He took his place at the bar. His eyes wandered to the bartenders. They were mostly girls wearing skin-tight black. Push-up bras. Half-shirts that revealed toned mid-drifts. Hot-shorts that barely covered anything. They were working girls with forced smiles and niceties. His eyes caught the only male bartender. He was older, and Naruto definitely knew he wasn’t straight. Sometimes he just knew. Their eyes lingered, and Naruto was the first to break eye contact, a smile forming on his lips. The bartender was attractive and he felt a warmness in his gut. 

“Naruto?” a voice penetrated through the noise and Naruto’s ears perked up. He turned to see Sai. 

“Sai?”

“Ino said she had convinced you to come out.” Sai answered as he maneuvered through the crowd to greet him. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

“How’d you get in? That line was crazy!” Naruto asked forgetting that he needed to order drinks of Ino and Sasuke. Forgetting about the attractive bartender and Sasuke's cold-treatment.

“I dropped Ino’s name of course.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the art gallery?” 

“Yeah, I’ll head back in a bit. It's only a few blocks away. Are you...drinking?”

“No-no-no-no! I was ordering Ino and Sasuke a drink.” Naruto said with a wave of his hand and a flash of a smile. “But trying to get a drink around here is like trying to flag down a taxi during a rainstorm.” 

“What can I get you?” the male bartender appeared and asked Naruto. Sai started laughing as Naruto shifted his eyes to the bartender. 

“You’re funny...did you hear my comment?” Naruto asked leaning in. 

“Yeah.” the bartender said with a cocky smile. Naruto nodded his head and smiled. 

“Alright-alright you’re good. You definitely earned your tip. Well I don’t drink but I’m here with two friends who do and well...let’s see if you can help me figure out a drink for them.” Naruto explained as his eyes locked on the bartender. He was finding it harder to tear his eyes away. He was so attractive he felt out of Naruto's league, and yet it excited him. He wouldn't have done anything anyways. It was just...fun. 

“Tell me a little about them,” the male bartender asked with a movie star smile. 

“Well one is blonde, like me, she is also a Libra, like me, and she argued with her boyfriend...the other has darker hair and is in the middle of an identity crisis so he’s fucking everything with two legs. Oh he’s a Leo. What drinks do you recommend for them?” 

The bartender thought for a moment and then nodded his head. “I got it. I got it. Hold up.” 

The bartender tossed his head back and laughed and walked away and began making the drinks. Naruto smirked and turned his attention to Sai who slid up right next to him at the bar. Sai gave him a look that said ‘ _what was that about?_ ’ Naruto just shrugged. He didn't know what overcame him. But knew if Sai hadn't come he may have openly flirted with the bartender. 

“Sasuke’s here?” Sai asked and his eyes searched the crowd, but the lights had dimmed and it was nearly impossible to make out anyone in the crowd.

“Yeah...and he’s currently in the phase where he’s bringing home randoms and hooking up with them.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah and one of them was Karin.” 

“Karin? From school?”

“Mhm.”

“Ouch.” 

“I don’t even know why I’m here. I never wanted to go out.” Naruto confessed. He left out that he also didn't want to be alone at home either. “Everybody is drunk and they all smell of sweat and too much cologne and perfume. I'd like to say I'm the DD, but I took the bus so...” 

“Want to go back with me?” Sai asked. Naruto stopped talking. Sai was inviting him to go back to the art gallery with him.

“Yes, but if I bail now I’d never live it down.” Naruto answered. He could hear Ino's voice if she found out, condemning him for bailing on her in her time 'of need' in favor of hanging out with his boyfriend instead. 

Sai nodded his head understandingly, and pulled his cellphone from his pocket. There was an incoming call. “Shit...I thought I’d have more time. I have to go, but I’ll text you.” Sai turned to leave but Naruto grabbed his hand. He suddenly didn't want Sai to leave him. 

“Wait. Thanks...thanks for coming to see if I was okay.” Naruto said. His heart quickened. He had to be better with his words. He wanted to show Sai gratitude. 

Sai nodded his head and gave him a look that said ‘ _well yeah what else was I going to do?_ ’ Naruto didn’t know what he was doing. He felt a surge of affection pumping through his chest. He pulled Sai close and kissed him. It was the first public display of affection above hand holding and hugging they had done. The kiss deepened and Sai’s mouth fit perfectly against his. Naruto took control. He tilted his head as his tongue entered Sai’s mouth. For having such a sharp tongue in moments like this Sai had softened and became shy. 

“Here you go!” the bartender said as he placed the two mixed drinks in front of Naruto. He broke the kiss and turned to the side as something caught his eye. Sasuke and Ino were standing there. He didn't know for how long. Ino's jaw dropped. 

“Sai! You came!” Ino squealed and wrapped one arm around Sai and the other grabbed one of the fruity mixed drinks. 

“We came because we wanted to know what took so long.” 

Sasuke explained, and leaned past Naruto grabbing the remaining mixed drink. Naruto wasn’t able to catch Sasuke’s expression because locks of hair fell over his face. Sasuke didn’t say anything else and Naruto didn't have a chance to answer before he vanished back into the crowd. Naruto felt his stomach twisting and he suddenly wanted to puke. Not because he kissed Sai, but because he never wanted Sasuke to witness him and Sai being intimate, which was why Naruto never invited Sai over, and why Naruto was so meticulous on making sure Sasuke never witnessed them together...at all. 

“I have to go. Ino make good choices, and Naruto I’ll talk to you later...bye!” Sai spoke and waved his hand as he left back to the art gallery as another incoming call came through his phone. Naruto waved back and his hand dropped weightless to his side. Ino slid her body next to Naruto at the bar and nudged him. He looked at her.

“Tongue-fucking at the bar. You’ve made a lot of progress.” Ino commented. She was being sincere in her own Ino-way. She put the straw in her mouth and began swallowing. She chewed on the end of the straw as she spoke. 

“You know I like Sasuke...but...you and Sai make the perfect couple. I like the way you are when you’re with Sai. There’s this...freshness to you almost like you don’t have to hide anything. You’re loose and easy-going and natural. Whenever you’re around Sasuke you’re always so wound up like you’re walking on eggshells and nervous. It's exhausting to witness so I can only imagine how you must feel.” 

“Really?” Naruto asked. This was the first time he was hearing an outsider’s opinion that wasn’t Kurenai’s. Ino nodded.

“If you want to leave and go with Sai I won’t be mad.” Ino continued with a nod of her head. She was being honest. 

“Really?” Naruto repeated.

"If you stayed it would be awkward with Sasuke...which means I'll feel awkward with you guys being awkward.” 

“I never wanted Sasuke to see us...like ever.” Naruto confessed and rubbed the back of his neck feeling the anxieties swimming in circles in his stomach like koi fish. He dropped a twenty on the counter to pay for the drinks and then a five for the tip. 

“I know…” Ino said and wrapped an arm around Naruto’s neck. “Sasuke is still in love with you and it’s obvious.” She finished off her mixed drink and slid the glass back on the bar counter. The male bartender was back and grabbed the glass asking if they needed anything else. Ino held up two fingers and requested shots. Kamikaze.

“Go on...leave. I’ll stay here with Sasuke.” 

*****

Naruto inhaled the fresh air of the night as he exited the club. There was still a long line of young people waiting outside. The girls at the front of the line perked up in excitement over somebody leaving. The air had cooled off some, but it was still warm. It was comfortable. It wasn’t sweltering hot like it had been the past couple days where sweat covered him in a film as he tossed and turned on his bed trying to sleep. The last couple of days was so hot the only time he was able to sleep was when he grabbed a couple bags of frozen vegetables and curled up alongside them in bed. He really needed to invest in an air conditioner.

He began walking towards the art gallery. He remembered going there for his art history assignments. The teacher loved interactive homework assignments as much as she loved switching their art history partners. He remembered working on one of the assignments and Sasuke appearing before him only to yell at him to leave. It culminated in them working on the assignment together in Sasuke’s dorm that night. He wondered what Sasuke remembered of that day. 

Now he was walking by himself down the empty streets at night. It was better this way. Naruto told himself. Right? He stopped in front of the consignment shop and he looked down the darkened alleyway that lead to the back of the shop. He shivered and his skin began to itch. He remembered coming here to buy Callisto from Kisame, and remembered Sasuke appearing and interrupting the sale. He remembered Sasuke agreeing to help study with Naruto, and remembered lying to Sasuke that it was a one-time thing he needed for midterms. He remembered the night ended with Naruto experiencing horrendous, and physically debilitating withdrawals he told Haku he’d do anything so long as he had Callisto. 

He began to unconsciously itch the flesh of his forearm. His skin turned red and covered in scratch marks. He had to leave. Now. He turned away, and picked up speed until he was now at a brisk walk and the consignment shop was behind him. He needed to apologize to Sasuke. He needed him to understand he never meant for him to witness anything with Sai. He thought about sending him a text message, but he thought it would be too insincere and impersonal. He appeared in front of the art gallery. He stood at the bottom of the stone steps that were splattered in paint staring up at the building illuminated in an orange light. The paint was deliberately done so that it looked like the sky at dusk. 

He didn’t know why he couldn’t bring himself to walk up those steps, and instead stood there dumbfounded. He couldn’t move. Every time his heart beat a sharp pain emitted through his chest. He sat down and held his head in his hands. His vision blurred and his breathing became erratic. He felt overwhelmed. He felt like he was on the verge of tears. He felt broken. Undeserving. He was tumbling down a dark abyss of self-deprecation and annihilation. He didn't know why he couldn't just walk up the stairs and join Sai. He closed his eyes until the feelings passed...but they didn't instead they morphed. 

He began to think about Callisto and wondered if he’d know where to go to score. Stupid. Of course he knew where to go. He'd go to the Guys and Dolls strip club. The question was if he had the guts to do it. He began to tremble, and just when he thought the darkness was going to consume him and he really did leave for the pleasure district was when light flooded over him.

“Naruto?” Sai asked and Naruto lifted his head. His vision was back and he turned to see Sai descend the steps until he was sitting next to him. “Ino said you were on your way to meet me and when I didn’t see you I got worried.”

“Stop.” Naruto interrupted. His voice was sharp and judgmental. “Just stop being so perfect all the damn time!” 

“Eh?” Sai asked clearly taken aback. 

“I’m a goddamn mess alright? I couldn’t even bring myself to enter the gallery to meet you don't you understand?” Naruto yelled as he gestured towards the building at the top of the stairs. 

“Why?”

“Because all I could think about was if I had the guts to score some Callisto!” 

“But you didn’t...you’re still here...right?” Sai asked with an unwavering smile. 

“Hm?” Naruto asked. It was his turn to be shocked into silence. First by Sai’s calmness, second by his reassuring smile, and third by his words. 

“You can have those thoughts. It’s okay. The point is you didn’t act on them. You’re still here. You didn’t drink at the club...and...you’re still here. Even if you didn’t make it into the gallery you made it to the steps. It’s fine because I can meet you wherever you stop. Just give me a minute and I'll be there. Always.” 

It happened again. He felt his veins flood with oxytocin. His heart thumped, and affection and warmth filled him to the brim. It calmed him and protected him. Fuck. His feelings for Sai were growing. Especially if he kept telling him these beautiful things. He leaned over and kissed Sai again. On the steps of the art gallery he made out with Sai aggressively. He needed the closeness. He didn't want to be alone. All the emotions he had felt in the last thirty minutes came out, and he took it out on Sai. His fingers wrapped around Sai's body, and he held him possessively. Like a snake ready to suffocate him if need be. He didn’t want Sai to keep saying these words that caused him to like him more and more on the affection scale, yet he wanted to keep saying those words, because he wanted to believe in those words...

No. What he really wanted was for Sasuke to say these words to him. Not Sai. All he got out of Sasuke was to ask him if he wanted a drink at the bar, and when he stood there doing nothing Naruto was told to go to the bar and get Sasuke a drink...and if Naruto was right Sasuke would probably bring home another stranger tonight. His mind muddled with thoughts of Sasuke until it became nothing but a cacophony.

Sai broke the kiss and asked. “Do you wanna come in?” Naruto was panting. He focused on Sai. He was dating Sai. He was in a relationship with Sai-Sai-Sai-Sai-Sai-Sai-Sai so he better start acting like it. This time things were going to be different. They had to be different! Or it meant Naruto wasn't making progress at all.

“Mhm.” Naruto said as he nodded his head.

*****

It was around one in the morning. Sai had called Naruto a taxi back home. He didn’t want Naruto to navigate the buses this late at night, especially when it took almost forty-five minutes to get back home. Naruto unlocked the front door and entered. The lights were all on inside the apartment. He expected to hear moaning and bed springs squeaking instead all that greeted him was silence. He moved down the hallway and his eyes glanced curiously into Sasuke’s bedroom. The door was wide open and Sasuke was laying on his back on the bed. 

“Sasuke are you okay?”

“Get me a glass of water.” Sasuke demanded and began stripping from his clothes. Naruto entered the kitchen, poured a glass of water, and returned. Sasuke was in his boxers and sitting on the edge of his bed. He held the glass of water out to Sasuke and he took it. 

“You reek of sex. Get out of my room.” Sasuke snarled. 

“No...that’s just the smell of your room.” Naruto countered and remained planted in his bedroom folding his arms. Sasuke remained quiet as he sipped slowly from the glass of water. Naruto softened his voice. “Listen, I wanted to apologize. I never expected Sai to appear and I never wanted to kiss him in front of you that was never my intention.” 

Sasuke snorted. “So first you openly flirt with the bartender, you makeout with Sai in front of me, then you leave the club and spend the night with Sai after telling me you wanted _us_ to spend time together? Tell me what exactly were your intentions?” 

“Back the fuck up, Sasuke!” Naruto said and held both hands up as if to say stop. 

“No Naruto you back the fuck up! Either get in my bed or get the fuck outta my room you goddamn slut!” Sasuke screamed. He didn’t look up and instead screamed the words at the floorboards.

Naruto forgot how to speak. He couldn’t think of any words. They all jumbled and became incoherent and none of them processed and formed. His brain filled up with water and it sloshed back and forth. His ears became plugged. His mouth became dry and he suddenly became aware of his tongue. It felt swollen and dry. He tried to swallow but his mouth and throat were parched and a lump formed. His breathing stopped and he felt a hollowness in his chest where his coronary artery used to pump. He emptied his mind of absolutely everything and cleared his throat.

“I’m going to let that slide because you’re obviously shit-faced. But you’re calling me the slut because I don’t want to fuck you? Take a look in the mirror, babe. How many people have you fucked in your bed during the past two weeks? At least when I did it I got fucking paid. What did you get? I hope you remembered to wear protection! And for the record I didn’t fuck Sai tonight, or any other night, you goddamn asshole!” Naruto was collected in the beginning, but was yelling at the end. He spun on his heels and left the room slamming the door behind him. 

He locked himself in the bathroom and slammed his spine up against the door and slid down. If Sasuke came to the door and apologized he would have forgiven him. He would have wrapped his arms around him and cried with him. He knew Sasuke was on the verge of tears. There was so much pain and rage inside him and he had no release expect to take it out verbally on Naruto and sexually on random strangers he met at the bar. But he didn’t and Naruto pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around himself. He held himself and cried alone. 

*****

Naruto was drifting between sleep and consciousness rowing in a boat down the stream. Just when sleep was about to envelope him he woke up startled with the sensation he was falling. He pushed himself up in a cold sweat, and his eyes adjusted to the darkness of his room. He heard moaning and bed springs squeaking on the other side of the wall. He grabbed his phone and checked the time. 

It was a quarter after two in the morning. Sasuke was doing this on purpose. He was being vindictive now. He was descending further into darkness. Naruto grabbed his noise cancellation headphones and pulled them over his ears and fell back onto his bed. He wrapped the thin sheet around him and closed his eyes and he drifted back down the stream. 

*****

When morning came Naruto was the first to wake up. He was still programmed to wake up early. Regardless of how little or how much he slept the night before. The morning was cool and there was a layer of dew on everything. Naruto sat half on the balcony with his back pressed up against the metal bars, and half in the living room with his legs propped up, holding a mug of seventy-five percent sugar and twenty-five percent coffee. Besides him on the floor was an opened piece of mail. 

He watched the quiet street slowly stir awake. Below was an alley cat strutting down the sidewalk. The whiskers twitched and the cat lifted it’s head catching Naruto’s gaze and held it with his own unblinking stare. It was a jet black feline with a thin frame. Naruto held his breath as he stared back not wanting to break eye contact. This was his favorite part of the day. When the world was stirring awake. Everything was still and the sun was warming up the earth. Rays of light peeked through the buildings and kissed Naruto's face. He didn't let it deter him from his staring contest with the alley cat. 

He heard Sasuke’s bedroom door opening and stumbling into the living room was Karin. He looked away by mistake and when he glanced back to the street the alley cat was gone. 

“Mornin’.” Naruto greeted with a smile as he turned back to Karin. He held up his mug. “There’s coffee in the pot help yourself.” Karin stared bewildered at him before moving into the kitchen. 

“I’m sorry did we wake you up last night?” Karin asked a smile on her voice as she returned to the living room.

“Not at all. I slept like a baby all night. I’d offer to make you breakfast but I’m just about to leave.”

Naruto grabbed the opened piece of mail, crumpled it in his hand, stood up, and began walking towards Karin.

“Why are you pretending to be nice to me?”

“I’m not pretending. I’m just relieved to see a familiar face exiting Sasuke’s room rather than a stranger.” Naruto spoke as he passed Karin. Her face flushed and her cheeks burned crimson. She spun around to say something, but Naruto’s bedroom door was already closed. 

*****

Naruto entered through the automatic doors and walked to the receptionist. She was an older woman with grey curly hair. She had a soft face and her eyes sparkled when she saw Naruto. 

“Oh Naruto! Are you here to visit Mikoto?” she asked and Naruto nodded as he signed his name on the visitor’s log. 

“Mhm. I also wanted to talk to billing.”

“Billing?”

“Mhm. I want to know why the account is saying there’s a missed payment when I gave them my bank account for these specific reasons.” 

She turned in her spinning chair and began typing furiously on the keyboard. 

“There must have been a mistake. There was a missed payment for July and there wasn’t a note stating to utilize the other bank account when there was a missed payment. I can correct it and make a note.”

“Thank you...and uh the last time I was here Mikoto said she wanted to enroll in the art class. I filled out the paperwork. Has she enrolled?”

Naruto was leaning against the counter straining his neck to see the computer screen. It was impossible from this angle all he could see was the white outline of the monitor. She continued typing on the keyboard, maneuvered the mouse, and clicked a few times before straightening back up. 

“No...there was an unpaid deposit of $250.” 

“Why wasn’t I notified?”

“Because your name isn’t technically on the account. Uchiha Sasuke is the medical proxy and his name is on everything.” 

“Well let me pay the deposit now...any other hiding fees? I really want her to start that art class as soon as possible.” 

“Nope that’s it she can start this afternoon.” 

“Great!” 

*****

Mikoto was wearing a sunhat tied under her chin by a thick white ribbon. Her hair remained long and ink-black. She was having tea in the gardens, but her tea cup remained untouched and her eyes focused on the yellow, pink, and red zinnias. She looked fragile as if made out of paper and porcelain. Naruto sat down at the white circular table and Mikoto turned her head to greet him. Her face broke out into a smile that flooded her eyes with warmth and love. Her smile was genuine and pure. 

“Oh Naruto! I missed you. How are you doing dear?” 

“I’m doing really good, Mikoto. I spoke to the staff they said you should be able to start the art class this afternoon.”

“I can? Really! I’m so happy. I was just thinking I’d like to paint the zinnias. Sometimes I like to come out to the garden and talk to the flowers because sometimes...sometimes they talk back.” 

Naruto looked at the zinnias that swayed in the warm morning breeze. There were still drops of dew coating the petals and stems of the flowers closest to the ground, but the air was warming up, and soon it’d be another cloudless summer day. Naruto forced a smile and was about to engage in more small talk when Mikoto interrupted him.

“What’s wrong? There’s a sadness to you today.”

“It’s Sasuke.”

“Is he okay?” 

“Physically, yes. He’s perfect. He’s just been changing. He’s becoming more aggressive and harsh with his words and actions.” Like calling him a slut last night, but he decided to omit that part. 

“Are you two dating?”

“What...no...we aren’t...wait...do you _know_ about Sasuke?”

“Of course. I think I knew when he was dating Sakura, and the way he looks at you and talks about you...it’s obvious, right? I'm his mother I should know these things, and I was thinking I want Sasuke to be happy.” Mikoto explained. 

“My therapist didn’t think it would be a good idea to date Sasuke. She told me our boundaries had been blurred, and we needed to work on a friendship-foundation. But lately it’s been hard, and Sasuke is making it impossible to be friends.” 

“He’s just throwing a tantrum. Remember when you were absent in school for that month back when you guys were ten? Sasuke sulked and locked himself in his room refusing to come out...and grew even more incorrigible during the summer of his ninth grade year when he found out he was transferring to Konoha Preparatory School and being permanently separated from you...and when you were in the hospital...I didn’t think he’d make it if you refused visits from him.” 

Mikoto had clarity in the moment. Today was a good day. Her medication regimen worked today. Her eyes were clear and bright and her fingers wrapped around the teacup in front of her as if noticing it for the first time. Naruto watched her and nodded his head slowly as she gave examples of Sasuke’s past temper tantrums and the common thread of each one was...Naruto. 

“So why don’t you give Sasuke a chance and properly date him?” Mikoto asked as she leaned over the table and looked at Naruto earnestly. 

“I’m...kinda dating someone else.” Naruto answered sheepishly and looked away.

“Ah...well there’s your answer.” 

“I don’t like that answer. It can’t be my fault all the time!” Naruto spoke harshly. It didn't seem to phase Mikoto. She remained still. 

“You’re forgetting...Sasuke shot his own father to protect you. You're not the only one with trauma, Naruto. Fugaku is still alive, locked up in prison yes, but he haunts all of us still. I’ve tried talking to Sasuke to get help...he didn’t listen. He told me he’d be fine as long as you were fine.” Mikoto spoke softly and her eyes averted to the flowers around them as if finding guidance and strength in their petals. 

Naruto’s eyes watered with tears. He had almost completely forgotten. Sasuke pulled the trigger and shot Fugaku to save him. The memory of that night flooded back, and he covered his mouth, as he began to dry heave. Even after all these years he could still feel the phantom belt tightening around his neck. Whether it was Juzo or Fugaku. A hand secured around his neck as he forced air into his lungs. Sasuke was left alone in that hotel room with a dying bleeding out father on the floor, and a dying bleeding out friend on the mattress. He couldn’t imagine what was going on inside Sasuke. Neither brought up that night...even though Naruto repeatedly brought up that night with Kurenai a lot...Sasuke never once was able to process those events with anybody. Naruto was feeling what Sasuke was feeling. He stood in Sasuke's shoes in that hotel room and stared down at his father and himself. Sasuke chose to perform CPR on Naruto forgoing treatment to his father. He wanted to talk to Sasuke about this night...a conversation needed to happen eventually. But he didn't think Sasuke was ready.

Fugaku was still alive locked up in solitary confinement. He’d like to think Fugaku was obliterated from existence and died, but he wasn’t. He was still alive. He was alive and Minato was dead. He was alive, and Naruto was alive, and Sasuke was alive. He turned his attention to the flowers and just like what Mikoto suggested he remained quiet and listened.

*****

Naruto leaned his head up against the bus window. He was watching the yellow lines down the middle of the road as the bus drove. He lost all track of time. He was in a lull. A catatonic state. He didn’t snap back into consciousness until the bus stopped at the hub. He missed his bus stop. He’d have to catch the next bus. He stepped off of the bus and looked around the bus terminal. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was flooded with pedestrians. Through the crowd he saw a familiar sight and he smiled and shook his head in disbelief. He sat down next to them and sighed. 

“Hey…” Naruto spoke as he glanced to Sasuke. “How are you feeling?”

“Like death...my head is pounding and I can’t remember anything from last night except I think I called Karin again because she was handing me coffee again this morning.” 

“You look like shit.” Naruto answered and chuckled. “What are you doing here?” 

“I was supposed to meet Orochimaru at the bookstore but he called to reschedule. The interview was pushed to tonight. He said something about needing his beauty sleep. You?”

“I visited Mikoto.”

“You did?! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I did just now.” 

“No I mean I would have went with you.”

“I know you would. I know. I wanted to speak to her alone.”

“What about?”

Naruto grew silent and watched the pedestrians meandering from one bus to the next, checking the bus times, and bus schedule. By the looks of the irritated faces the buses were behind in schedule. He leaned back on the bench, and began talking out loud. 

“I think I’m going to break up with Sai.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m still in love with you and it wouldn’t be fair.” Naruto spoke as he turned to look at Sasuke. His face had flushed, his lips parted, and his eyes dilated and just as fast his face twisted up into abhorrence. 

“Do you think I’m some yoyo, Naruto? That you can play with whenever you’re bored?”

“What?! No! That’s not-” 

“I’m not a toy! I’m a person! Jeez you’re something else aren’t you?” Sasuke said his voice was loud and attracted attention from those around them. He stood up and walked through the crowd leaving Naruto dumbfounded on the bench. Naruto didn’t know what he was doing. He followed Sasuke through the crowd and when Sasuke stopped walking Naruto wrapped his arms through Sasuke’s arms and around his chest from behind. He pressed himself against him and held him. More so for Naruto’s sake than Sasuke’s. He felt warm in his arms, and for a moment Naruto just held him in silence. 

“I’m sorry! That’s not what I meant..I just don’t want to lose you alright? I feel like I’m losing my best friend!” Naruto yelled. He didn’t care if he made a scene and now everyone at the bus hub was watching their interaction. Naruto could feel Sasuke tense and tremble in his arms. Naruto caught sight of some pedestrians giving them strange looks and shaking their heads in annoyance. 

“So you decided to lie to me? Tell me what I want to hear when there’s nothing behind those words?” Sasuke asked as he gritted his teeth. He didn’t pull away, or even make movements to dislodge Naruto. He remained still. Allowing the physical touch. 

“I wasn’t lying.” 

“Like I’d even date you anyways. You think you’re all that and a bag of chips? I can do way better.” Sasuke scoffed and he turned around to catch Naruto’s eye. 

“You’re not going to lose me...stupid.” Sasuke continued as he closed his fist and bopped Naruto gently on the head. It was the same gesture he did when they were ten and Sasuke visited Naruto to tell him to return to school. It was comforting. Naruto was still stunned by it until Sasuke flashed a smile. It melted Naruto’s insides and his breath hitched in his throat. 

“You can let go of me. I won’t leave.” Sasuke spoke softly as he grabbed Naruto’s hands and tried to dislodge him. Naruto didn’t want to let go. He wanted to keep holding Sasuke. “Is this like one of the rules you’re breaking?” 

“Since when did regular rules apply to me?” Naruto asked as he let go of Sasuke in favor of threading his fingers with Sasuke’s. He couldn’t remember the last time he held his hand. Sai’s hand was smaller and covered in calluses from his apprenticeship at the art gallery. Fuck. What was he doing? He was in a relationship and attempting to hold Sasuke’s hand. Sasuke looked down at their hands thread with one another and then looked back up at Naruto.

“What are you doing?” Sasuke asked as he looked around the bus terminal anxiously. The pedestrians lost interest and were back in their self-absorption. 

“I’m...really sorry Sasuke...for everything…” Naruto spoke. “I just want to make you happy and I keep fucking it up.” 

“Stupid. I am happy. Being with you makes me happy...and _I_ want _you_ to be happy and if you’re happy with Sai...then I’ll be happy. So, you don’t have to keep hiding it. I’ll be okay.” Sasuke squeezed Naruto’s hand reassuringly. He could feel Sasuke’s pulse through his palm. He wondered if their heartbeats synced. It was said to happen in skin to skin contact. He wanted his heart beat to sync up with Sasuke's. 

“What if we’re supposed to end up together? You and me?" Naruto asked. He moved his other hand to cover Sasuke’s hand. Shielding his hand in a prism. 

“If it happens it happens. But right now it’s not the right time. If we rushed into anything it would be a perfect disaster. I’m in no position to be in a relationship at all, and you're in no position to date me just to appease me. Right?"

Naruto stared into Sasuke's eyes. They pooled like a liquid galaxy. There was light in his eyes, and it was beautiful, and that inner light touched Naruto, and he nodded his head in agreement. It wasn't a rejection. The timing between them wasn't right. It was a maybe...it was a one day. It was a not here, not now. Naruto felt it. The truth in Sasuke's words. There was something missing inside Sasuke that he was searching for...and he was searching for it in random strangers, in Karin, in alcohol...he was searching for it in all the wrong places, and things, and people. Naruto's mind emptied of everything. He wanted to say something to fill the silence, but there was nothing to say...all there was to say was already said. Sasuke was right, and Naruto smiled.

"Let’s go home.” Sasuke said. 

He still didn’t release Naruto’s hand. He pulled him towards their bus that had finally rolled up. Late, but it had arrived. Hand-in-hand they entered the bus, pressed their bus passes over the scanner, and found an open seat in the back of the bus. It was an approximate thirty minute bus ride back to their apartment on the outskirts of town. 

“You say all that and yet we’re still holding hands.” Naruto said finally. He squeezed Sasuke’s hand. He didn't want to let go either. At least not yet. 

“Just until we get back home. Let’s stay like this, and then I’ll let go, and I’ll give you back to Sai.”

“Okay.” Naruto spoke his voice barely above a whisper. At least for the duration of the bus ride it would be alright to remain just like this. 

As the bus jutted forward he rested his head against Sasuke’s shoulder. It fit perfectly in the crook of his neck. That perfect spot between his neck and shoulder that seemed to be created especially for Naruto. In unison Sasuke rested his head on top of Naruto’s. Just like their hands fit perfectly together. They fit perfectly together. He smiled. He felt affection swelling up inside and could feel the fluttering of butterfly wings up against his stomach lining. His face felt warm and he inhaled Sasuke’s scent. It smelled of sweat and detergent and a faint smell of Yves Saint Laurent. He smelled of their apartment. Of coffee and chlorophytum comosum and...he smelled of home.

*****

Sasuke allowed himself to sink into the couch as he grabbed the remote. Naruto opened up the sliding glass door before joining Sasuke on the couch. They sat on opposite ends with a whole cushion between them. Naruto at first kept glancing at Sasuke and then continued to watch Sasuke silently as the other browsed through the different categories on Netflix. It was a typical dilemma. What to watch when nothing looked interesting.

"You're staring." Sasuke commented as he glanced at Naruto from the corner of his eye. He felt the other's eyes on him for some time.

"I was thinking...about what you wanted to do in life." 

"What do you mean?"

"I dunno' like do you want to go to college?"

"I don't know. Do you?" Sasuke snapped. He didn't know why he felt like he was put on the defense. It was an innocent enough question, but he decided to avoid it and throw it right back at Naruto.

"I don't know either." Naruto spoke softly and leaned back in the couch allowing himself to sink in.

Silence blanketed them as Sasuke moved to the TV Shows. Naruto began to fidget and kept glancing at Sasuke. He wasn't done with the conversation. He waited for Sasuke to take notice of him. 

"Yes?" Sasuke asked.

"Am I holding you back?" Naruto asked. It blurted out before he could process, but once he said it he felt relieved. The conversation he shared with Orochimaru in the park had been slowly gnawing at him. Honestly, Naruto never gave it much though about Sasuke working at a bookstore. He never asked why Sasuke didn't go to college. Then again. Wasn't the answer obvious? Naruto hated when people asked questions they knew the answers too. When he thought about that conversation guilt washed over him. He could feel the tightening in his chest and the bile dumping into his stomach. 

"Holding me back? In what?" Sasuke asked. He needed clarity. 

"Life...I mean I'm fine with walking dogs, but are you fine with working in a bookstore?"

"Are you okay with walking dogs?" Sasuke challenged. He didn't like the way Naruto said 'working in a bookstore'. It sounded like an insult, or maybe he was just reading too much into things, because he really didn't want to be working in a bookstore, but he didn't give it much thought on where he should be, or what he should be doing. 

"I...don't know." Naruto confessed. He rubbed his hand against the nape of his neck. He felt himself tense up and then he relaxed. "I guess it's the first...real job I had that I chose for myself. I don't have to be near people...and...the dogs are pretty chill. You?"

"I don't know what I want to do. I thought about college, but I don't know how to pay for it." Sasuke spoke honestly. He wasn't going to touch a dime of his father's money. Whatever was left over after the courts seized the bank accounts went towards his mother's nursing home bills and medical expenses. The rest was blood money that remained untouched. 

"Scholarships? Grants? Student loans? There are a ton of ways to pay for school." Naruto offered. In truth Naruto would have paid for Sasuke's tuition with his own money...well the money Minato left him, but even thinking about that now there was no way Sasuke would accept it. 

"I guess."

"It's settled then. You're going to college!" 

"What about you? I'm not going if you're not going!" Sasuke protested. 

"So what you're saying is...it is my fault?"

"No!"

"Then why not just apply by yourself then if it isn't my fault?" 

"Fine!"

Naruto flashed his one-hundred watt smile and Sasuke saw it from the corner of his eye. It was contagious and Sasuke found himself smiling. 

"Whatever...lets just watch Friends." Sasuke said as he grew tired of searching for something new and settled on what was comfortable.

"Okay!"

*****

Naruto was feeling elated. He could feel it in his loosening muscles as he passed through the gate and into the park. He was more mindful of his surroundings. He was aware and connected to the world with all senses. No longer stuck in his head and oblivious to everything around him. He could feel the warm rays of sunlight trickling through the leaves. He could taste the salt of his sweat when he licked his lips. The park smelled of flowers, dirt, and barbecue. It was a Saturday and everything appeared vivid. The warm colors popped as if somebody turned up the saturation. He held onto the leather leashes that were connected to Thatcher's and Churchill's harnesses. They moved around the parameter of the park in a brisk walk, both dogs eagerly tugging on their leashes as they prowled.

He was feeling accomplished because Sasuke submitted his online application at 11:55PM last night. Five minutes before the deadline. He was feeling relieved. Like a weight had been lifted from his chest. He wasn't holding Sasuke back any longer. He looked around the clearing of the park. It was already filling up with families and it wasn't even noon yet. Families had flocked to the park, to the outdoors, to nature, and away from the screens, and noise and deadlines that dominated their life. It was serene. He heard the laughter of a child as their father chased them and picked them up. Naruto watched their interactions for a moment before shifting his eyes back on the trail. He found himself smiling and he inhaled deeply. The air smelled clean and felt with every breath he took it was easier and easier to breathe. It broke up the last bit of anxieties in his chest. 

It was a Saturday in August, and tonight was the opening exhibition that Sai had been exhaustively working on both day and night. He felt excited and thought about what he was going to do today. It was going to be another lazy day of lulling in the summer heat, and Naruto wouldn't have it any other way.

"Naruto." 

A voice called his name from the shadows. He stopped breathing. Naruto had taken the way that lead away from the families and down a heavily wooded path. He didn't normally take this path, but today he did. The leaves and branches were so thick it blocked the sun out, and dappled the ground in shadows. It was a reprieve on any other day. Today the air grew frigid and it plummeted to below freezing. Naruto stopped walking, much to the dismay of the mastiffs. Both started whining, but Naruto remained statuses. Naruto slowly turned his head towards the voice. There was no mistaken identity. Naruto knew who it was from the voice. He didn't even need to turn his head to know who it was that called out his name. The voice dragged him back into the cold, desolate winter days of the preparatory school. 

Naruto looked at the feet. Secured in sandals, rolled his eyes up over the legs of a familiar uniform, across the abdomen covered in a sleeveless black turtleneck, bulletproof vest, outlined the clavicle that jutted against the fabric of the shirt, up the neck to the white and red kitsune mask that was being pulled down to reveal his face.

"Haku...what are you doing here?"


	55. Into the Labyrinth

# Into the Labyrinth 

 

It happened again. 

Something wicked and immorally wrong pulled Sasuke into the depths of hell. He was plunged into a black nothingness, and from the darkness a picture materialized. A memory. In the middle of the darkness a king sized bed appeared. One bare light illuminated the familiar scene. Sasuke was paralyzed with fear. He saw Naruto’s body, naked, lying lifeless on the bed. He wasn’t breathing. There was a belt looped around his neck and the belt buckle pressed firmly against his jugular cutting into his skin. His lips were blue and his face was purplish-red and swollen. His father laid bleeding out on the floor. The fresh blood staining the plush carpet. He heard gurgling noises coming from the back of his father’s throat. Naruto remained lifeless, dead, on the bed. His blue eyes drowning in blood, both pupils blown, staring unblinking up at him. There was no life in his eyes. They had darkened. A fly landed on his face and walked across his cornea. 

“NARUTO!” Sasuke screamed. 

He woke up in a cold sweat. Sunlight peered through the sheer curtains. He pushed himself up panting. It was difficult to breath. It felt like he was inhaling shards of glass and they cut the insides of his lungs severing the bronchial tubes. Sweat dripped down his temple and stung his eyes. His stomach felt twisted and he could feel acid burning his esophagus. He reached for his glasses and put them on before stumbling out of bed. He left his room and found himself knocking on Naruto’s bedroom door. 

He had to make sure he was still breathing...that he was still alive. The door creaked open to reveal an empty room. A disheveled bed and a pillow on the floor. The apartment was quiet and still. He was alone in the apartment. Naruto was gone. He was walking the dogs in the park. He remembered him mentioning it last night. His coworker called in sick, and Naruto picked up an extra shift. He’d be gone early in the morning. He always made sure to tell him when he wasn’t going to be in the apartment. 

He didn’t know what triggered the nightmare. Everything had been going perfectly with Naruto. They were able to be around each other without awkwardness neither acting as if they had to walk on eggshells. Last night Naruto stayed up with Sasuke as he finished the application to Konoha University as a non-matriculated student, and when he clicked the submit button they celebrated. It was a scattered campus around Konoha. Two-three bus stops away. If Sasuke was going to university it was going to be local. He didn’t think he could be separated from Naruto. 

His heart ached. He looked down at his hand. Just last week he was holding hands with Naruto at the bus terminal. The hub. And now. The illusion shattered and reality set in. What he wanted to do was punch Naruto in his mouth for saying those words so flimsy. But that was always him. Saying things so flippantly, without a care, as if those words didn’t have any meaning, any real impact, and he released them so stupidly into the open as if he expected a round of applause from the invisible audience. He treated his relationship with Sai so carelessly. Telling Sasuke he’d break up with Sai. He didn’t know why Naruto said those words. Did he want a reaction, and if so what kind of reaction? 

He told Sasuke he was still in love with him. If that was the case he should have just broken up with Sai then told him he was still in love with him. That way Sasuke could properly ask him out and Naruto would properly accept. Like it was supposed to be. But Naruto’s love... it wasn’t the same way Sasuke felt about Naruto. He remembered being so infuriated all he saw was the color red, and how that anger melted away when he felt Naruto hugging him from behind. He melted instantly in his touch and he didn’t want to break contact, which was why he allowed Naruto to hold his hand. Telling Naruto they would only hold hands for the duration of the bus trip. Ironic how every bus ride back to their apartment, at the edge of town, always took forever, and yet this trip was over in an instant. It wasn’t fair. When they got off the bus Sasuke kept his word and let go of Naruto, and he’s felt cold ever since. 

Sai. 

Sasuke never liked him. There wasn’t a particular reason why. Maybe because how effortlessly close they were in school. Sai who knew everything Naruto did, everything that had happened to him, and it didn’t phase him, and their friendship came so naturally. Maybe it was jealousy. Sai was able to do what Sasuke couldn’t. If he could go back he’d do everything differently. The truth was Sasuke blamed himself. He blamed himself for everything that had happened to Naruto. The guilt weighed heavy on his soul, and that guilt permeated every now and then like a knife to the gut. Twisting and turning and disemboweling him. 

Because when he thought about it everything was his fault. 

Sasuke wanted to go back to eighth grade. To the end of the school year, and instead of ignoring Naruto he would act as if nothing had happened. He’d sit next to Naruto in class and talk about video games, and soccer, and what movie was coming out. He’d make plans to hangout with Naruto after school. They’d go to the park with Kiba, Shikamaru, and Lee and play a scrimmage match of soccer or basketball. They would have never had a fistfight in the school yard resulting in both of their suspensions, and Sasuke wouldn’t have been so angry that he’d agree to transfer schools. He would have spent the whole summer with Naruto, instead of alone, and they’d start their ninth grade year together.

Even if they were all forced to transfer in their tenth grade year they all would have transferred together. Naruto. Sasuke. Shikamaru. Ino. Sasuke would have requested to become roommates with Naruto, and he knew Naruto would agree. Things would have gone differently. Sasuke knew if they had been friends all along then Naruto would have never went along with Haku. He never would have went to the Twin Leaves Hotel. Never would have been addicted to Callisto. Never would have been a victim to a prostutiton ring. Never would have been involved with Zabuza, Danzo, Fugaku. All those dehumanizing, horrific acts of rape and torture...he would never had to experience any of those things.

How their lives would be entirely different today if Sasuke had just greeted Naruto that morning, ate lunch with him, and went to the park after school. The guilt was tearing him apart. Little by little. Which drove him to the bars were he emptied glass after glass until he didn’t think anymore and he became numb. 

Sasuke returned to his room and called Naruto bringing the phone to his ear. He wanted to hear his voice. After the fourth ring he was forwarded to voicemail. He furrowed his eyebrows and called again. This time after the second ring he was forwarded to voicemail. He swallowed. He was purposely ignoring his phone calls. His stomach churned. He decided to send a text message.

‘ _Why are you ignoring my calls?_ ’

There wasn’t a response.

*****

It was late afternoon when Naruto returned to the apartment. The sun was setting and the telephone wires were humming. Sasuke stood up from the couch. He had been reading. The television was off. The sliding glass door was open. Naruto locked the door and when he turned around he jumped upon seeing Sasuke appearing quietly behind him.

“Hey…” Naruto greeted before avoiding eye contact, sidestepping, and moving down the hallway.

“Wait!” Sasuke said as he followed Naruto and grabbed his wrist before he was able to enter the bathroom. “Why didn’t you respond? You had me worried!” 

Naruto was avoiding his eyes, but was clearly distraught. His clothes were disheveled. He was acting squirrely. He tried to pull himself from Sasuke’s grasp but the hold was irontight. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. 

“Naruto!” Sasuke raised his voice and Naruto turned to stare at him. Sasuke’s eyes widened upon seeing Naruto’s eyes. His pupils were blown. They were the size of saucers, and they were eclipsing the blueness that resembled the lake during a storm. “Christ Naruto! Are you...fucking high?” 

“Kinda...maybe…” Naruto answered with a small laugh. Sasuke pushed him against the bathroom door, turned the lights on, grabbed his chin and lifted it up so he could get another look. His eyes were bloodshot. His nose was red and irritated. His skin, despite having a tan, had paled. 

“What are you on?” Sasuke asked as he released Naruto and stepped back. He recognized the signs. He remembered Naruto stumbling into their dorm. Eclipsed eyes. Jittery actions. Manic. 

“I wasn’t expecting you to be here.” Naruto spoke and downcast his eyes to focus on the bathroom tiles. 

“That didn’t answer my question!” Sasuke answered his voice raising. 

“Aren’t you being hypocritical? You get blackout drunk almost every night and bring home randoms, and when you can’t get someone to fuck you-you go and call Karin!” Naruto shouted back. His words stung and Sasuke stepped back. It sounded as if he was jealous. He had no right. He had no right to act jealous when he was in a relationship. He swallowed. 

“Okay...so what happened? What triggered this?” Sasuke asked softly. He didn’t allow Naruto’s red herring statement to deter him from what was happening. Something must have rattled Naruto enough to jump off the deep end, and he wasn’t going to find out what it was if he kept badgering him. He’d known Naruto long enough to know what caused him to shut down and withdraw. 

“What?” Naruto asked. He wasn’t expecting this response. He suddenly felt nervous. 

“You’re always refusing alcohol. You’ve been boasting sobriety for three years so what happened? What happened to cause you to break it? It must have been something big. Tell me...please?” Sasuke asked. He reached to grab Naruto’s hand. He was afraid he was going to disappear again. He was experiencing flashbacks. Naruto soaring on a rocket to the moon, ansty, fidgety, back in their dorm room. Ready to vanish and leave him behind. 

“I ran into Haku.” 

Naruto answered and without another beat Sasuke pulled him into an embrace. Naruto wasn’t expecting this reaction. He allowed Sasuke to wrap his arms around him. He was tense at first. He felt as stiff as a board. His muscles flexing. Rigid as a metal pole. 

“Thank you for telling me.” Sasuke exhaled. Naruto felt himself loosen up. He swallowed. He felt embarrassed. Being so close to Sasuke. So close he inhaled his scent. 

“What did he say?” Sasuke asked as he pulled away from Naruto. The sudden coldness washed over Naruto, and he watched as Sasuke pulled away and stepped backwards. He wanted to wrap his arms around Sasuke, but he didn’t. 

“He’s a member of the Anbu, and he’s working for Tsunade.” Naruto answered as he walked out of the bathroom and moved into the kitchen with Sasuke following him. He grabbed a glass and filled it from the faucet before bringing it to his mouth and drinking. 

“What?!” Sasuke asked in disbelief. 

“She has him working undercover.” Naruto answered as he leaned up against the counter. 

Tsunade was elected as interim Hokage three years ago, and sworn in a year later as the official Godaime. She was reluctant to take the position. But she had the recommendation from the elders, and when the official vote took place it was unanimous. The citizens of Konoha wanted the chief of surgery as their leader. Obito had also put his name in, but it was rejected. The Uchiha Police were disgraced and the Uchiha name smeared through the mud. Tsunade’s first agenda was to overhaul the police force. Her ideology was similar to the Yondaime and her approval ratings were through the roof. She was more firm and continued to be a no-bullshit, shoot from the hip, leader. 

“Did Haku do anything to you?”

“No!” Naruto yelled. He was being defensive. Too defensive. “He just wanted to talk and so I did, and now it’s over, okay?” 

“Something must have happened you’re high!”

“It’s just cocaine. Grow up. It was a one time thing. I’m not going to start sucking dudes off in a hotel room. Or are you going to call me a slut again. You seem to like calling me that!” Naruto yelled before pivoting and throwing open his bedroom door. Their apartment was tiny. It didn’t take long to move from room to room. 

“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean it like that.” Sasuke spoke slowly as he moved into the bedroom, holding his arms out to catch the door that Naruto tried to slam shut. He had to make Naruto understand what he was feeling. “It’s just...I dreamt about you again last night and when I woke up. You weren’t here, and I felt scared and anxious and when you didn’t answer my phone calls it grew worse. It was so bad I vomited!” 

Naruto looked at Sasuke. There was pain etched in Sasuke’s features. He looked vulnerable. He looked scared. He looked young. As if he was no older than a child. He felt his sharp pricks of pain inside his rib cage. His heart thumped irregularly. His teeth hurt. It felt like they were going to fall out. He never liked the effects of cocaine. It left him manic. Like someone turned up the volume, turned up the heat, turned all the valves until they couldn’t turn anymore and left him vibrating, alone, and aching. The effects of cocaine didn’t last long and when it was over he felt like complete shit. 

“Did you...have that dream again?” Naruto asked his voice softening. Sasuke shook his head yes. He couldn’t verbalize it because if he did, he might have a panic attack. 

Naruto recalled Mikoto’s words. Reminding Naruto that he wasn’t the only one in that hotel room. Sasuke was there too...and he was the one who found them in the master bedroom. He was the one who shot his own father to save him. He was the one who performed CPR and saved his life. 

“We never talked about it…” Naruto spoke out loud. Something he wanted to talk about since his last visit with Mikoto. 

“Talked about what?” Sasuke asked confused. He was thinking about the dream-which didn’t make sense, he talked a lot about it with Naruto. 

“That night. When you...when you stopped Fugaku and saved me.” 

The blood drained from Sasuke’s face and he appeared like a ghastly apparition. His eyes flashed and his mouth formed into a grimace at Naruto’s words. 

“What’s there to talk about?” Sasuke asked his voice shaky. He didn’t want to open up that can of worms. 

“How you’ve must have felt…” Naruto answered. “What I did was...inexcusable...I…”

“What you did? It wasn’t about what you did, it was what he did to you! I saw it...what he did to you. I heard your screams and then you went quiet. I still heard noises. I pushed open the bedroom door and saw him. You weren’t moving. The belt was wrapped around your neck and he was pulling it. Your eyes were open, but you...weren’t moving...you weren’t breathing you...were dead.”

Sasuke’s eyes filled with tears, and he backed up until he hit the wall and couldn’t back up anymore. He leaned against the door as the memory took hold. Naruto walked towards Sasuke. 

“I just wanted him to stop.” Sasuke spoke as he looked into Naruto’s blown out pupils. He was so close if he reached out he could touch him. 

“What do you remember?” Naruto asked. Sasuke watched memoried as Naruto’s eyes returned to normal. His eyes were too blue, too clear, too clear. 

“I was so angry with you, Naruto. That’s what I remember. I was so angry. I won that stupid dice game you made me play. You were supposed to live. You weren’t supposed to die. I screamed at you the whole time. I hated you. I hated you for putting me through this...I hated you for...leaving me. You went there to die...and you were so goddamn selfish! You always do these things on your own!” 

“I know...I wasn’t in the right of mind. Shisui told me about the train explosion and that Minato was on life support out in Suna and I just lost it. I wanted everyone to hurt. I wanted everyone to pay, I wanted everyone to die. Shisui’s words warped me. I thought if I humiliated Fugaku he would understand, and feel what I felt, and what I went through. I thought if I killed him, and then took my own life for repentance...I would be forgiven. I was in complete darkness. I never expected you to show up. I still wanted to die. Even though you were there. I begged Fugaku to kill me.” 

“You selfish bastard…you’re still acting selfish!” Sasuke said as the tears spilled from his eyes. “You are my home, Naruto. You are the reason for my smile. You are my everything! So when I call you please don’t fucking ignore me! You make me feel like you’re going to disappear again! Let me know you’re alive goddammit!” 

Everything became a blur. Sasuke didn’t know who took the first step. Maybe they both did, and they met in the middle. Sasuke felt Naruto’s hot mouth pressing against his, and he felt his tongue sliding into his mouth. He tried to remember the last time he tasted Naruto’s mouth. It tasted bitter. There was a voice that told him to stop. This wasn’t right. Naruto was in a relationship. He was going to Sai’s art gallery opening tonight. If this continued they were going to fall back into the same pattern as they did back in school. They’d fall back to the beginning of blurred boundaries and broken hearts. 

But he didn’t want to stop. It felt too good to stop. He wanted Naruto. He always wanted him. He never stopped wanting him. Even after all these years he was still in love him with. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto. He wanted to feel his body pressed up against his, and it felt fucking wonderful. He remembered Christmas Eve. When they made love in Naruto’s dorm. He wanted to recreate that memory. 

The kiss deepened and strengthened. It was feverish. The bitterness turned into something sweet and something addicting. 

He found himself pushing Naruto back until they fell on top of Naruto’s bed with Naruto pinned beneath him, and he was straddling him. Naruto’s fingers found themselves under Sasuke’s shirt and his fingers gilded against his spinal cord. It sent shivers through his body and goosebumps to form. Sasuke’s fingers explored under Naruto’s shirt. His body was hot, taut, and smooth. He always wondered if Naruto’s core temperature ran hotter than everyone else's. He remembered this heat. It felt comforting. It was different than the summer heat. He wanted to press his lips to every inch of it. He wanted Naruto’s flesh to burn his lips. To mark him forever. 

Sasuke was losing himself within Naruto. When he felt Naruto’s fingers brushing against his crotch he snapped out of the fevered dream, and pulled away. Recoiled. It felt as if a bucket of ice cold water was dumped over him. He was brought back to his senses. 

“Stop!” Sasuke said as he moved himself further back until he broke all physical contact. Suddenly all of Naruto’s stupid rules came flooding back and they had broken every single one. Sasuke wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He felt himself trembling with the realization of what they were doing, and what they were about to do. 

“You’re right...I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry!” Naruto spoke as he pushed himself up and away from Sasuke. His legs dangling over the side of the bed. 

“We can’t fall back into that same pattern!” Sasuke stated his voice full of conviction. He crossed his legs and moved a hand over his growing erection. 

“Just do me a favor.” Naruto asked with a sly smile. His eyes bouncing from between Sasuke’s legs up to his lips. 

“What?” Sasuke asked in curiosity staring at him from the corner of his eye. 

“Don’t call Karin to finish you off.”

“Fuck off...you better not call Sai.” Sasuke countered. He was being serious. He didn’t know if Naruto was being playful or serious, but he didn’t want Naruto to call Sai. He wanted Naruto to be sexually frustrated and finish himself off alone in his bedroom. 

“I won’t.” 

“I won’t be your mistress. This won’t happen again. Got it?” Sasuke said sternly not allowing Naruto to deter him. He was feeling tempestuous. The emotions were strong and turbulent and conflicting. 

“I...got it.” Naruto answered and nodded his head slowly. 

Without another word Sasuke got up and left Naruto’s room. Closing his bedroom door behind him. He found himself masturbating in the shower. His thoughts were perverse and filled with Naruto. He didn’t stop until he came twice, and his semen shot out. He exhaled and closed his eyes. Dropping his hands and allowing his throbbing penis to go limp. The water cleansed his body from the sweat and tears and cum. Humans were such filthy beings.

*****

“I don’t understand why I have to be here too.” Sasuke said bluntly as Ino led him up the splattered steps of the art gallery. The sun was vanishing slowly over the horizon causing the sky to look like it was on fire, and if he closed his eyes he could feel the heat from the flame licking his flesh. If they weren’t careful the fire was going to spread and destroy everything. He smirked. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Sasuke’s eyes shifted from the artist palette sky to the gallery as they ascended the stairs. He exhaled. He was feeling nervous. He wanted to see Naruto, and to see what kind of expression he’d make when he saw him there. 

“Shikamaru is working and couldn’t get time off. I can’t go to this thing by myself. Besides you’re my excuse for us to leave early when things get boring.” Ino said as they entered the building. Ino gave her name, handed over the invitation, and they were allowed entrance. 

It was everything Sasuke envisioned. It was filled with an older crowd. Dressed to the nines, name brands, and lavished in gold and silver. The museum was filled with old money and new money. And the art pieces? They were pornographic. Paintings of men on men in sexual acts, women on women in sexual acts, orgies, playing with sextoys, and experimenting with BDSM. Large life-sized paintings in explicit detail. The brush lines and color softened everything, but it was still vivid and detailed. 

“Oh...my…” 

Ino spoke her eyes widening as they walked around to stare at each painting. She stopped at a particular one where there was a female in a humble pose on the floor. Bowing down to the viewer. There were rose petals all around her and on her. It was the only one that wasn’t explicit. Be default it was Sasuke’s favorite. She moved on to the next one. Woman on woman. One woman was hanging in the air with a system of pulleys and ropes and a blindfold over her eyes. The other ready to insert a pink vibrator. There were vulgar words all over as if to mimic a magazine or newspaper headline. 

“So this is art...but porn isn't?” Sasuke asked as he leaned over to whisper to Ino. 

“Porn can be artistic. Don’t they have the AVN awards?” 

“I can’t believe you know something like that.” 

“Shikamaru won’t watch porn with me. I think it’s more of a hobby. Some clips are really just awful it’s an art in itself.” 

“What do you see in Shikamaru? Aren’t you two always fighting?” Sasuke asked as he continued to follow Ino around the gallery. Shikamaru and Ino felt like water and oil. 

“He evens me out. He pulls me back and calms me. He’s smart, and funny. I know he would never hurt me, or betray me. He has morals and I already know I’m changing just being around him.” 

“Shikamaru has always been a lazy genius.” 

“What about you? Still playing the field or has anyone caught your eye? Naruto said you’ve been calling Karin a lot.” Ino asked and when she mentioned Karin she turned to stare at him as if trying to see if Karin was special. 

“That was a mistake. I deleted her number. I don’t want to lead her on any longer. It was just sex to me...but it didn’t make me feel better. In fact I felt worse.” 

“I see. At least you know that now. That’s good. Another thing about Shikamaru is if I want to try something in the bedroom he’ll do it. He may just do it once but he indulges me.” Ino spoke as they reached another painting which had yoga poses intertwined. She tilted her head to the side. Sasuke also stared at the painting and he too turned his head to the side to get the angle they were going for. It looked more like a workout than it did for sexual pleasure. It looked exhausting. 

He heard it. 

Naruto’s laughter. It washed over the sea of muffled voices and he snapped his eyes in the direction. He never told Naruto he was going to be Ino’s date. He saw Naruto. He was laughing. He was telling a story to a group of guests who had formed a circle around him, and next to him was Sai. His stomach flipped. It was that feeling again. A feeling of longing. The feeling of being left out. Of feeling like an outsider. Naruto was gifted with captivating everyone around him. Always had. 

Naruto was animated as he told the story, and Sai had a hand covering his face and nodding his head verifying everything Naruto said. Naruto looked good. He was back to normal. No longer feeling the effects of the cocaine. He was dressed in form fitting dark jeans, and an oversized white button-up shirt that went to his thighs in a flattering cut. The sleeves were rolled up. His hair was slicked back with a few strands falling into his face. He had on a pendant necklace and a bracelet, and a pair of black birkenstocks. Everything about him seemed expensive. Everything felt like a facade. He hadn’t seen Naruto put effort into his outfit and looks in months. He usually wore whatever without a second thought. He figured he was going to do the same tonight. 

Sasuke watched as Naruto grabbed Sai’s hand and intertwined his fingers with his in a public display of affection. He was telling everyone they were together. He looked away. He suddenly wanted to leave. He turned back to Ino who had moved on to another painting. He felt dizzy. He walked up to Ino who had taken out her cellphone and captured a photo of the painting.

“I’m going to send this one to…”

“Ma’am. Please don’t take photos of the art pieces. Otherwise I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” A voice interrupted. Sasuke and Ino turned to see Sai had appeared and he was smirking. Sai was dressed in tight black. 

“Oh! Sai! I thought you were actual staff. I almost lost it!” Ino yelled as she hit Sai in the shoulder. 

“Are you already causing problems?” Naruto asked as he appeared standing besides Sai. They were no longer holding hands. Naruto barely looked at Sasuke. His attention entirely on Ino. Sasuke couldn’t take his eyes off him. Was he avoiding him on purpose?

“Pff. Barely. I don’t even see anyone carrying trays of champagne. What kind of opening in this?” Ino spoke as she looked around.

“Drinks and food are in the member’s lounge.” Sai answered and pointed to the back. 

“Goodie! Sasuke let’s go!” Ino said excitedly and began to maneuver through the crowd. Sasuke glanced at Naruto but he turned his attention away. He really was going out of his way to ignore him. 

“I’m glad you were able to make it Sasuke. I hope you enjoy yourself.” Sai greeted with a smile. 

Sasuke nodded his head and left to follow Ino. He felt his face enflame. Naruto was really going to give him the cold shoulder while he was with Sai? He suddenly felt filthy. Used. He snorted to himself. Naruto was a method actor. He had to play diplomat his whole life. He was the Hokage’s son for seventeen years. A master of masks and niceties. He was playing a role. A host alongside Sai. 

Ino had a plate of pastries, fruit, and vegetables and was on her third glass of champagne. She was seated in an armchair in the member’s lounge. Sasuke was nursing a glass of champagne. 

“Whenever you're ready we can leave. I made an appearance. Commented on a few pieces, got food, drinks, and I’m good to go.” Ino said between mouthfuls. 

“Don’t you think we should celebrate with Sai?” Sasuke asked. 

“I think Sai’s going to celebrate on his own with Naruto tonight.” 

“What do you mean?” Sasuke asked. The world stopped moving. The air grew thinner. He raised his glass of champagne to his mouth and gulped it down in one go. 

“Sai told me that tonight they were finally going to...ya’know.” Ino said and she wiggled her shoulders together. “Do it. Leave it to Naruto to wait for something monumental before sealing the deal and popping the relationship cherry.” 

Sasuke was speechless. He felt the blood drain out of his whole body. He froze. It sounded like water was sloshing between his ears. He knew it was a mistake this afternoon. But Naruto had planned for tonight this whole time? He must have known when he was tongue-fucking him this afternoon. He felt like raw sewage baking in the summer heat. He felt anger boiling his blood. He suddenly didn’t want to leave. Not yet. He cracked a smile.

“We should at least celebrate with him for a little bit. Buy him a drink to loosen up his nerves.” 

“You’re right! We can take them to the rooftop bar! He can’t say no to that!” Ino said and stood up. 

When she was determined she didn’t stop until she got what she wanted. Ino became Sai’s first friend when he transferred and they stuck together like glue. Of course he couldn’t say no to her persistent begging. Albeit. Obnoxious, scene-making, pleading. Ino had a similar effect on people. Another beautiful blonde with a contagious smile. Sasuke watched Naruto as Sai agreed to go with them to the rooftop bar. Naruto never broke character. He immersed himself with Ino or Sai, all the while continuing to ignore Sasuke.

*****

The rooftop bar overlooked the city. It was another exclusive bar where Ino’s name got them in. In all honesty Naruto could have said his name, and they could have gone anywhere in the city. Sasuke refused to say his name. The Uchiha name had been dragged so much it was almost an insult to say it outloud. Almost like a derogatory name that people cringe upon hearing.

The four of them sat down at a table. There were trees and plants all over with edison lights wrapped around the trunks and branches. Ino ordered two bottles of wine. She didn’t even look at the prices when she ordered a Cabernet and Chardonnay. A silence settled over the table. Naruto was leaning back in his chair and his attention was focused towards the glimmering lights of the city. 

Sasuke raised his glass of wine to Sai, and Ino followed suite. 

“Congrats! Sai! You’ve almost made it!” Ino cried out and clinked her glass with Sai’s. 

“Naruto do you want a glass?” Sasuke asked. 

“He doesn’t drink.” Sai answered turning his attention to Sasuke. 

“Maybe you want a line of cocaine?” Sasuke asked. It appeared to be the phrase that caused Naruto to turn his attention to him. Instead of anger Naruto burst out into laughter. Sai looking perplexed turned to Naruto. Sasuke raised his eyebrows. 

“Isn’t Sasuke so cute?” Naruto laughed as he motioned to Sasuke. “He knows I’ve been sober for three years and yet he still teases me. It’s like I have an older brother looking after me.”

Oh? Sasuke smirked. Naruto wanted them to be brothers? He never thought Naruto to be incesterous. Sasuke decided to follow along. 

“Nothing but brotherly love, dude.” Sasuke answered. Naruto smiled and glanced at Sai. 

“I wasn’t serious. I just want to make sure you don’t break your sobriety.” Sasuke said with a nod of his head, and he took a sip of wine. Naruto stared back but his expression was unreadable. It unnerved Sasuke. 

“See? This isn’t awkward!” Ino added to the conversation. “Okay-okay. I need some advice.” 

“Shikamaru?” Naruto asked and he turned his attention to Ino. Relieved for the distraction. 

“Mhm. I want us to live together. I think we’re ready. I just don’t know how to go about asking.”

Sasuke perked up and turned his attention to Ino. 

“He’s going to say no, because you don’t have a job.” Sai answered and Naruto nodded his head in agreement. 

“So I have to get a job first? What if I walked dogs with you Naruto?” Ino asked. He held up his head and shook his head, “No way! You’d get distracted and let go of the leash or something.” 

“I just want to wake up to him everyday!” Ino pouted as she took a sip of wine. 

Sasuke looked at Sai and Naruto. “What about you two?”

“What about us?” Naruto asked turning his attention back to Sasuke. He felt it. Naruto was tensing up. He was breaking character. 

“Have you guys talked about moving in with each other?” Sasuke asked casually. 

“Yeah we’ve talked.” Sai answered and glanced at Naruto. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto. The blonde continued to lean back in his chair. He was back to being unfazed. It caused Sasuke’s stomach to flip-flop. 

“And?” Ino asked suddenly invested in the answer. 

“Secret.” Naruto said and winked. It caused Sai to burst out laughing and Naruto chuckled. “Maybe we shouldn’t tease her, Naruto.” “What fun would that be?” 

“This is why I love you two together.” 

“I think it would be a good idea. If you guys moved in together.” Sasuke interrupted. His attention focusing on Sai and Naruto. It was the only time when Sasuke saw a flash in Naruto’s eyes. A crack in the veneer. 

“I’m finally understanding the chemistry Ino keeps going on and on about. I feel it. You guys both look good together, and you’re so natural with each other.” Sasuke continued wanting to explain his position. He nodded his head and smiled genuinely. 

“See!” Ino said and clapped her hands. 

“What do you need to have a successful relationship?” Sasuke asked and leaned back in his chair. “I’m taking notes.” He smiled and took another sip of wine. His body was relaxing. 

“Attraction?” Ino offered.

“Trust...should be the foundation Ino.” Sasuke answered with a smile and turned his attention to Sai and Naruto. “Open and honest communication about everything. Trusting that the other won’t hurt you, or betray you, or leave you.” 

Sai nodded his head and Ino verbally agreed. Naruto continued to stare hard at Sasuke. He remained silent. 

“Trust, and communication are very important.” Sai agreed and swirled the wine around in his glass. He looked at Ino before continuing, “Attraction is also important. But respect, and sharing responsibility are equally important. Especially if you want to move in with somebody.”

“Sex. I don’t care what anyone says if the sex isn’t good I don’t think I could be in a committed relationship.” Ino interrupted and she began pouring herself another glass of wine. 

“I agree with Ino. There needs to be sexual capability.” Sasuke agreed and nodded his head. 

“Sex isn’t everything!” Sai defended. Sasuke and Ino turned to stare at him as if he had three heads. 

“Do you masturbate?” Sasuke asked Sai. It visibly shocked him and he stared back. 

“I mean everyone masturbates. I masturbate, Ino masturbates...Naruto masturbates.” Sasuke continued. Naruto continued to stare even harder at Sasuke, and now it was his turn to ignore him. Ino nodded her head in agreement to the statement. She was always so unabashed. 

“I’m not discussing this.” Sai stated and held a hand out. 

“Love!” Ino chirped after a moment of silence blanketed them. “You gotta have love in a relationship...I take back my previous statement. If you truly love someone I think the sex can be vanilla and it would be okay. I mean I know I truly-truly-truly love Shikamaru, and that feeling is better than any orgasm.” 

“When did you know you were in love?” Sai asked Ino. 

“I had always had a crush on him since like the 9th grade, but I think when we started dating after we graduated high school I realized what I thought was love back in school was nothing but puppy love. The real thing is...something unexplainable. It just is. It came naturally and out of the blue. But at the same time, isn't it a curse? Your first love? Do you ever get over your first love? I’m afraid if we do end up breaking up I don’t think I could find love ever again...or at least the same love.”

“Yes you can!” Sasuke answered firmly. The answer flooded Sasuke as if he was being allowed knowledge of the secrets of the universe. He shared his personal experience. He wanted to be better with his thoughts and feelings and conveying them to others. 

“I thought it was going to be hard. You think you’re never going to be able to get over them, and you think you’re crazy because you find yourself obsessing over them, and it feels like you can’t breathe without them. But then it could be the smallest thing that happens, and suddenly all those feelings evaporate like a popped balloon. It’s liberating, really. Sometimes your first love is toxic...a perfect illusion on what love should be, but it isn’t love. It was just your first love, and not everybody is lucky to be with their first love forever...so you can get over them...you have to, and when you think about it that way it isn’t so hard at all. You can love again. You can love someone else again.” 

There was a silence as Sasuke’s words sank in. It wasn’t an awkward silence. It was a thoughtful silence of introspection. Ino nodded her head slowly grasping what he was saying. The truth behind his words. His exclamation that he was over Naruto. Once again she was the first to break the silence. 

“I’m proud of you Sasuke. Anytime you want to start dating let me know. I can introduce you to sexy men and sexy women. Just tell me which you prefer.” 

Sasuke laughed and his whole face lit up. It caused Ino’s eyes to widen. He shook his head back and forth. “I am in no way ready for a relationship. I may have gotten over my first love, but that in no way means I trust someone enough to start dating them.” 

“Understandable.” Ino remarked solemnly as she stole glances at Sasuke’s face. Sasuke finished his glass of wine and set it on the table. There was a content smile on his lips. 

“I’m going to cut out. I have an early morning tomorrow with work. I hope you all have a good night. Sai congratulations. Ino make sure you call Shikamaru to pick you up.” He ignored Naruto completely. Stood up, and left.

*****

He could barely look at Naruto at the rooftop bar. He felt Naruto’s eyes on him the whole time. It made him feel exposed. He felt itchy. Walking down the street he found himself breathing easier, but it didn’t stop his stomach from churning. He really needed to stop drinking on an empty stomach. The pain in his gut grew and grew as the alcohol sloshed around and ate away at the stomach lining. It hit him in waves. He found himself in an alleyway vomiting. He wasn’t even drunk. He drank a glass of champagne at the art gallery, and a glass of wine at the bar. He was able to stop vomiting when all that came out was green and yellow stomach bile. It felt good to vomit. He could feel the endorphins flooding his blood. He couldn’t stop shaking. It felt like he had the flu.

It fucking wrecked him.

Seeing Naruto and Sai together. Naruto’s smile and laughter. Their hands intertwined together. He said it didn’t bother him, but he lied, it did, and it wrecked him every time. He suddenly felt like crying. He felt used. Disgusted. He was pathetic. He was still obsessed with Naruto. He wanted to be over him. He started to think maybe it would be for the best for Naruto to move out and in with Sai. It would probably strengthen their friendship and reinforce those boundaries they had been trying so hard to stay inside. But they were nothing more than fidgety kindergartens coloring outside the lines and being scolded by the teacher. 

He was angry at Naruto. For not telling Sai that they had kissed. For not telling Sai he had snorted cocaine today and broke his three years of sobriety. For not telling Sai about Haku. Because if he didn’t tell him the first two he definitely didn’t tell him about running into Haku. Maybe Naruto wanted to create an illusion of the perfect relationship. Like he was performing on stage in front of an audience. Only Sasuke wasn’t buying it. He never had. Naruto wanted to forget Sasuke so much he’d do anything to accomplish it. 

It would be better if Naruto moved out...maybe he should move out. Leave Naruto. He thought about looking for apartments tomorrow. The rest of the night happened in a blur. His nighttime routine happened by muscle memory, and he fell asleep in his bed with two fans blowing on him. One stuck in the window, and the other propped up on an old milk crate. It felt refreshing. Soothing. He drifted off into an uneasy sleep, and he was greeted by nothingness.

*****

Sasuke woke up to the sound of someone climbing onto his bed. His eyes snapped open and he bolted up in bed to come face to face with Naruto. He was about to yell vulgarities at him suddenly filled to the brim with rage and anger, but stopped. His eyes adjusted and fully took in the blonde who was now wearing a tank top and shorts. The side of his face was bandaged and his eye was bruising.

“What happened?” Sasuke asked.

“I broke up with Sai.” 

“Wh….?” The word barely left his mouth as his brain tried to process what Naruto said. 

“I wish you didn’t convince Ino to take us out. It would have made my job a whole lot easier.” Naruto confessed as he crossed his legs and leaned back on his arms. Sasuke’s head was whirling. Naruto was acting so natural. 

“You what?”

“I planned on breaking up with Sai...I wanted to wait until after the art gallery opening, and when we got back to his apartment. I never expected you to show up tonight. Instead, thanks to you and Ino. The whole time back to his apartment was nothing but a barrage of questions and questions, and once inside. I told him everything. I figured I needed to rip the bandaid off.” 

“Everything?”

“I told him before I was still in love with you. I told him in the beginning, I told him in the middle, and I told him at the end.”

“What happened to you?” Sasuke asked as he reached out and touched the side of Naruto’s head. Seeing him hurt and bandaged brought back unwanted memories. 

“He hit me with a bottle of wine that Ino bought us to take home. I told him he could hit me as much as he wanted until he felt better. So he hit me again and then...he bandaged me up, and I went home.” 

“Christ.”

“I’m a shitty human. I know that...I just...wanted to tell you before I went to sleep. I know neither of us are ready for a relationship. You threw me off tonight. You showing up. You talking about me moving in with Sai, and you saying you were over me.” 

“What did you expect? You makeout with me and then ignore me!”

“I never expected you to be there!” Naruto defended. It didn’t make him feel any better. 

“It makes me think if I wasn’t there you would have gone home and fucked him.” 

“I don’t want to argue with you anymore. I just wanted to tell you what happened. Goodnight.” Naruto said as he began to slide off the bed and leave. Before he could go Sasuke grabbed his hand.

“Wait. Don’t leave. Stay with me tonight.”

“Okay.” Naruto exhaled. 

It didn’t take much to sway him and he crawled back into bed. He curled up alongside Sasuke and stared up at the ceiling. It felt good. The fans blowing on them from both sides. Sasuke reached for Naruto’s hand and intertwined their fingers. He pulled their hands up so that he could observe it. Naruto brought his attention to their hands. 

“It’s your fault you know.” Sasuke spoke as he squeezed Naruto’s hand.

“Mhm?”

“We could have skipped all of this if we had just gotten together from the beginning.” 

“We’re still in no shape to date each other properly. Your words.” 

“I only said that because you were still dating Sai. If you had broken up with Sai and then told me what you said at the bus stop.” Sasuke began but trailed off. He didn’t want to shift blame. “We just need to take things one step at a time.” 

“I promise...I’ll do better this time around.” Naruto said and rolled onto his side. Sasuke mirrored him and stared at his outline. The moon was full and bathed the room in a blue hue. He saw Naruto’s outline clearly. The air smelled of the outdoors. It smelled of summer. Of sweetness, of floral, of city smells. 

“I’m so afraid...I’m so afraid you’re going to leave me, or you’re going to tell me we can’t be together and date someone else.” Sasuke said hoarsely. He was gripped with fear. 

“I don’t want to. I want to take things slow with you. I told you. We were always meant to be together.” 

This time it was Naruto who leaned over and kissed Sasuke lightly on the lips. It was so soft it barely registered. It felt like a breeze. He couldn’t hold back on longer. As soon as Naruto pulled away Sasuke leaned over and kissed him. He needed something tangible. He needed to taste all of Naruto. Everything happened so naturally. Their mouths. Naruto’s tasted like toothpaste and mouthwash. His body was warm and inviting and it was all Sasuke could do to restrain himself. He wasn’t going to have sex with Naruto. They were going to take things slow. Kissing and cuddling and hand holding. He was satisfied with that. He wrapped Naruto up in his arms and pulled him close. So close his body molded perfectly against his and his molded perfectly around him. He breathed in the scent of Naruto’s hair and his fingers brushed the exposed skin of his stomach. He was soft, and perfect. 

“I want us to be like this every night.” Sasuke whispered as he closed his eyes. 

“Mhm. Me too.” Naruto murmured as he too closed his eyes. Naruto held onto Sasuke’s hand and brought it up to his mouth where he kissed his palm and held it close to his mouth as he drifted off into sleep. The last thing Sasuke felt before drifting off into sleep was complete and utter relief.

*****

_Lets rewind time. Back to the morning._

On the off-beaten trail with Churchill and Thatcher. He had stopped moving. Haku had pulled the kitsune mask from his face and appeared before him dressed head to toe in the Anbu uniform. Haku’s inky black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. He grew taller. He was still slender and lean, and wore his smiling mask facade as he greeted Naruto as if they were old friends reuniting after all these years. Naruto was always jealous of Haku’s smiling mask. It was something he wanted to replicate back in school. Now all Naruto wanted was to smile honestly.

“Haku. What are you doing here?” Naruto asked and his features turned dark. His eyes narrowed. His jaw flexed. He became hyperfocus. His senses heightened. His cell phone began vibrating. He pulled it out of his pocket. Sasuke was calling him. He rejected it and turned his attention back to Haku. As soon as he was about to put his phone back in his pocket. His phone lit up again and vibrated. Sasuke was calling him again. He slammed the red x button and rejected the call, before he turned his cellphone off. He wasn't in the right state of mind to be talking to Sasuke right now. He stuffed his phone in his pocket and turned back to Haku.

“I’m a member of the Anbu now annotated by the Godaime. I was sent to give you a message. Your name appeared in the Bingo Book. It was revealed that Uchiha Fugaku put a hit out on you. Offered a pretty penny to whoever could kill you. Congratulations the bounty on your head put you at the top of the list. They put Fugaku back in isolation. The Anbu want to know. Do you still want him alive? Give the word and we’ll kill him.” 

“He put a hit out on me? Put my name in the Bingo Book?” Naruto snorted in disbelief before chuckling coldly and shaking his head back and forth. Even from prison Fugaku wielded such maniacal power. It was insurmountable the depths of hate within him. He set his eyes back on Haku and shifted his weight to one leg.

“Isn’t it the Anbu’s job to protect me? So why don’t you put your mask back on and do your fucking job. What good is he to me dead? Do you think that’s what I want? I want him to suffer in isolation for the rest of his life! I want him locked alone in a room. I want him to live a long-long-long life.”

Haku remained stoic. He was always smiling. Naruto could count on one hand how many times he saw Haku express any real human emotion. He was nothing but an alien mirroring human emotion. Naruto didn’t like Haku. He understood Haku and how he became the person he was and it was all because of being brainwashed by Zabuza since he was a child. Naruto knew all of this and what Haku had to do to survive. It didn’t matter. Naruto still didn’t like Haku. He never would. 

Haku turned his head to the side. “Fugaku has been allowed to meet with his lawyer everyday. It was revealed that they are working on an appeal to overturn the guilty conviction.” 

“What conviction? The aggravated rape? The attempted murder? The assassination? The money laundering? He had so many convictions I can barely remember. Why did you appear before me? I thought you would have taken your own life a long time ago.” 

Haku didn’t offer an explanation. His smile never faltered. It only caused Naruto to grow more suspicious. 

“You want Fugaku dead don’t you? Do you somehow think murdering the last man behind what you did to me somehow make amends?” 

“I want him dead. Not just for what he did to you. But what he did to me too.”

Naruto shook his head and laughed. The shadows on his face deepened. It overcame him and everything darkened around them. The sun was blotted out in the sky. The wind picked up.

“The one who holds the gun holds the power. It was something I learned back in room 3707. You remember don’t you? I took them out one by one. The last one was Shimura Danzo. It’s been three years and do you think I feel better? I don’t. Their deaths didn’t change what happened to me. Is that why you’re wearing the Anbu mask? Do you think it gives you power?” 

Naruto was challenging Haku. He was feeling liberated. No longer was he cowering in the shadows feigning for another hit of Callisto. Haku wasn’t taking the bait. 

“Mhm. A lot of high and mighty talk from someone who walks dogs for a living. But then again you don’t really need to work do you? You were left everything. Money, stocks, property. You’ve always had it all. Everything. From the beginning. Well, everything except love. Isn’t that right? That emptiness you wanted to fill. It was the only commonality you and I shared. We both shared that same emptiness. It must be nice. Always living the privileged life.” 

Naruto scoffed at him and he rolled his turning his attention away. He was ready to turn and leave when Haku moved. His body flickered, vanished, and reappeared inches away. He pulled something silver out and pressed the cold metal to his forehead. 

“Tell me Naruto. Do you still want to die? I could grant your wish. Just say the words and it will be all over.” 

He heard the gun cock back as the bullet moved into the chamber. It was a familiar sound. Naruto’s eyes widened. The barrel pressed firmly against his forehead. He stopped breathing. His eyes rolled up to see Haku’s finger pulling the trigger of the gun. He heard a clicking noise and he screamed. He dropped to his knees and kept screaming. It was a blank. The sound of his screams ricocheted off the trees. He couldn’t remember the last time he screamed so forcefully. Memories flooded him. Several birds flew from the branches squawking. 

Naruto covered his head with his hands and smashed his forehead against the dirt path. His whole body trembled. It hit him. All at once. He vomited. His eyes watered and tears streamed down. Clear snot rolled from his nose as his body began to arch as he continued to violently tremble. He covered his mouth with his hands and he was in a full blown panic attack. Haku kneeled down to Naruto’s eye level, and terrorized Naruto stared back. 

“Don’t you see how easy it would be to kill you? I bet you were thinking about it...just like I was at one point in my life. About dying. I bet you didn’t realize how much you really wanted to live until I pulled the trigger. ‘Betcha didn’t think how much you wanted to live. So listen when I tell you. Fugaku wants you dead. You need to spread the message, Naruto. You need to get him before he gets you.” 

Naruto was hyperventilating. Sweat beaded on his temple and across his forehead. His vision blurred and his chest ached. 

“Fine…” Naruto gasped as he tried to compose himself. “Do whatever needs to be done...but I want him to suffer. He doesn’t get the easy way out.” 

Haku nodded his head. His liquid pools of burnt sienna swirled and his pupils dilated. It was exactly what he wanted to hear. 

“I promise everything will be over after this.” Haku said as he fitted the kitsune mask back on his face. He straightened up and began walking away. Naruto stumbled up into a standing position. He was still gasping. His nose stung and his throat burned. He wiped the back of his mouth.

“This better not get back to Sasuke...I don’t want any connection to this you got it? If it does I’ll kill you myself. I killed more people than you, Haku. So don’t fucking test me!” 

Haku paused and turned to look over his shoulder. The mask was still covering his face. He looked Naruto up and down before speaking.

"Whatever you say. I know the real leader of the Anbu is you...it isn't the Godaime. It's just a formality. I hope you enjoy the gallery opening tonight. Chao."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N
> 
> I never intended for the epilogue to be so long. I just felt like there had to be more to say. I wanted to thank everyone who has been with me on this long journey. I still have more things to say in this alternative universe. I really do want a happy ending it just so happens I do it in a roundabout way. I also wanted to say thank you for everyone who gave kudos, bookmarked it, and commented. It really makes me happy.


	56. Fur Elise

# Fur Elise 

 

A few days had passed since Naruto’s midnight confession. 

The world came to a grinding halt. Sasuke bared witness with baited breath and hesitancy. He surveyed Naruto who appeared before him. Half his face busted and bruised. ‘A bottle of wine’ he said. This kid was always getting wrecked one way or another. Battered and bandaged. In the moment it was believable. That he was hit with a wine bottle. He wanted to believe it, because it made things easier. Living in ignorance and bliss. Whatever. He had broken up with Sai and crawled into his bed, and he welcomed him. Because that’s all he ever wanted. Pathetic.

Neither made their relationship official. Sasuke didn’t want to. The timing was off. Yet he slept in Sasuke’s bed every night. Blurring boundaries. The black rigid lines now appeared hazy and dull. Which made Sasuke ask what the point was if not to waste time? All that time following made up rules only for them to be erased and rewritten. 

Sasuke was able to curl up besides the blonde and hold him close. The rules were no longer enforced. But Sasuke was petrified. He was fearful that he was going to wake up and Naruto was going to be gone. In order to sleep he had to be holding onto him throughout the night. Telling himself if he held onto him he wouldn’t vanish. It was jarring and painful feeling like any minute things were going to shatter all around him like they did before. 

Naruto hadn’t left the apartment, and neither did Sasuke. The rest of the world faded away into oblivion. The weekend past in a blur, and Sasuke didn’t want to pry himself from the warm body of Naruto when Monday morning came.

Naruto was awake. 

He was laying on his back staring up at the ceiling. His face looked even worse than it did Friday night. It went from looking like fresh blood pooled beneath the surface to a smear of blues, purples and black. He looked like a monster. The cut above his eye still required a bandage. He thought he needed stitches. Naruto kept saying he was fine. The contusions didn’t look like it was caused by a wine bottle. Naruto said it was. There was still swelling and tenderness. His flesh still hot to the touch. Sasuke asked if he was sure it was a wine bottle, and Naruto stated plainly that it was. He denied having a concussion. He stated he didn’t vomit. Even when Sasuke asked if he had fallen and hit his head he shook his head and bluntly said ‘no’. It left Sasuke feeling uneasy. 

Liar...liar...pants on fire. Was what he wanted to say. He dropped it. It wasn’t worth the energy. 

“Are you going to work today?” Sasuke asked as he finished getting dressed and glanced back at Naruto still in bed. Naruto gestured towards his face. 

“Looking like this? I already have people staring at me. I don’t want anymore unwanted attention.” 

“Mhm. I’ll see you later.” Sasuke spoke quietly and he left. He wasn’t going to kiss him until his face completely healed. 

“Goodbye!” Naruto called out. 

*****

Uzumaki Naruto was a liar. 

He grabbed his vibrating phone, angrily, and pushed himself out of Sasuke’s bed. He went to the front door, unlocked it, and swung it open with such force it almost flew from its hinges. Haku was standing there and he was holding a large envelope. His hair fell down to his waist and pulling his bangs to the side was a flower pin. He was wearing a sundress and sandals and a smile. He looked more natural in this than he did the Anbu uniform. Naruto, barefoot, still in his night attire leaned up against the doorframe, and scowled at him. He narrowed his eyes until they were slits of iceberg blue. They were chilling and dark like the Atlantic ocean when the Titanic sank. 

“I told you I didn’t want to see your face again.” Naruto spoke coldly. He held out his cellphone to show Haku the missed calls. “And stop calling me or I’m going to put a restraining order against you!” 

“Are you going to leave the apartment today?”

“Do you think I’m stupid? Why the fuck would I leave when there are people out there who want me dead?” Naruto snarled and gestured towards the world outside his apartment and then gestured back towards his face. 

“Why don’t we take this conversation inside?” Haku suggested. His voice remained calm. The suggestion made Naruto’s skin crawl and he recoiled back. He’d rather not. 

“No.” Naruto protested. 

Haku’s smile remained painted on his face. Unfazed. He resembled a porcelain doll and Naruto wanted nothing more than to bash his face in to reveal the cockroaches and maggots living inside. To strip that smile from his face. Naruto continued. “You remind me of Shisui, of Zabuza, of Juzo! You make me think of all that shit. I want you to leave me alone!”

“I’m different than Shisui because I arrested the man who hurt you.” Haku answered and tilted his head to the side. 

It caught Naruto off guard as if Haku had verbally knocked him off his balance, and it felt like he was on the verge of falling. He remembered Friday night. He remembered leaving Sai’s apartment unscathed. He had broken up with him and he was upset. He was drying his tears. Guilt pooled in his stomach and made him nauseous. He was distracted. Usually hypervigilant at night only tonight...his mind was elsewhere, and then he felt it. It came from the shadows of an alleyway. It came from the pitch darkness and swallowed him. Large arms appeared from behind before Naruto could scream a soaked rag was being pressed against his mouth and nose with such force it muffled his cries, and left him inhaling the liquid and fibers of the cloth. It filled his lungs and he began choking. He hated himself for always being the perfect victim. It was as if there was a book floating around the black market on how to find the perfect victim and Naruto’s face graced the cover. 

“Did you tell Sasuke?” Haku asked. 

“N-no!” Naruto voice faltered. He wanted to protect Sasuke. What purpose would it serve except to upset him.

He remembered being slammed up against the brick wall of the alley. He felt his strength draining. He didn’t understand it, but his stomach churned, and he felt vomit coming up. It filled his mouth, it burned his nose, and spilled out against the cloth and against the man’s fingers. The effects of the drug weren’t working properly nor as quickly as the assailant wanted, and Naruto’s sudden onslaught of vomit caused him to release him and step back. Oxygen filled Naruto’s lungs and the moment he turned around he was pistol whipped. It caused his head to snap down and he was stumbling. He tried to keep his balance but he was hit again. He could feel the warm blood soaking his face and blinding him. He fell back and his spine connected with the brick wall as he fell to his ass. His tailbone hitting the concrete. 

He thought this was it. This was the end. To be covered in his own vomit and blood. Shot in an alleyway that reeked of piss and raw sewage. 

He heard the pistol cock. The bullet rolling into the chamber. His one eye had adjusted to his surroundings, and to make up for the blindness in the other, it made everything sharper, clearer, so he was able to see everything in fine detail right before his death. He looked up to see the barrel of the gun. Only before he was able to pull the trigger there was a flash of a white and red mask. The hand holding the gun was shoved upwards and the trigger was pulled. The gunshot ricocheted in the alleyway. It felt as if someone turned the volume up and everything became indecipherable. 

He wasn’t killed. 

The Anbu had arrived. Later than intended but they were there. Three of them and the man was subdued. Slammed against the opposite wall and fitted into a pair of handcuffs. Haku appeared before him, mask moved to the side, shining a flashlight at the gaping wound on his temple. 

“Took you long enough…” Naruto growled and he spit blood and vomit on the sidewalk near Haku’s sandaled feet. 

“You should tell him. He deserves to know. You keeping it a secret won’t protect him, and if you’re not honest it’s going to blow up in your face.” Haku spoke and pulled Naruto from the memory. 

“What gives you the right to lecture me?” Naruto balked. “You wanna lecture me in honesty?!” Haku remained neutral and shrugged his shoulders. Naruto continued. “And tell him what exactly? Tell him his father put my name in the Bingo book?!”

“Mhm!” Haku raised his hand and held out the giant envelope to Naruto. Automatically Naruto grabbed it from Haku’s hand hoping it was enough to make him leave now that he delivered the mail. He didn’t know why he had to personally deliver it when there was an entire postal service out there dedicated for these purposes. He thought he made himself clear Friday night he didn’t want Haku to trail him from the shadows. 

“What is it?” Naruto asked and held up the envelope acting like it was a bomb that could go off at any minute.

“An application.” 

“For what?”

“The police academy.” 

Naruto shifted his eyes down to the envelope almost not believing Haku. He opened it and pulled out the documents. He expected it to be something else entirely. Maybe a college application. A job application. A rental agreement. Anything else. However written across the top: Konoha Police Academy Application. The majority of the documents were pre-filled out with all his demographic information. A chill went down his spine. He stuffed the documents back in the envelope and offered the envelope back. He didn’t understand the meaning behind it and he was put on the defense.

“Why would I join a corrupt police force? Especially one that destroyed my life?”

“Tsunade doesn’t want you to join the police force. She wants you to be an Anbu member. But in order to do that you have to go through basic training at the academy. I didn’t want to either when she approached me. She asked me if I wanted the same thing that happened to me to happen to someone else. I told her no. She told me I had the ability to change that, and to help others, protect others, and in doing so make amends for what I did in the past.”

Naruto stared at him for a moment, before slamming the door in his face and locking the door. 

*****

Naruto sat uncomfortably on the edge of the couch. His leg bobbed nervously up and down. The envelope was on the coffee table. He rubbed his uninjured temple as if nursing an impending headache. Haku’s words bounced around in his skull. He didn’t understand them. Make amends for what? Protect who? Fuck Haku. Fuck his words. The only person Naruto cared about and wanted to protect was Sasuke. Everyone else became irrelevant. The shadows in the living room grew longer and longer and the sun sank in the sky. He hadn’t moved for hours. 

He hadn’t realized how much time he had wasted staring at the envelope until he heard the front door lock clicking, and opening the door was Sasuke. 

“Welcome back!” Naruto greeted automatically and leaned back on the couch. The spell was broken. Sasuke smiled weakly. He glanced around the living room. Noticing the TV was off, and Naruto was sitting quietly on the couch. Doing absolutely nothing. It was unsettling. What was he doing? He spotted the envelope on the coffee table.

“Mhm. What’s in the envelope?” Sasuke asked nonchalantly as he began to remove his shoes.

“Wrong address.” Naruto lied. 

He caught himself. Sasuke accepted the answer without protest. Naruto’s stomach churned. He was lying again. Everything came out so naturally he barely had time to process. He was falling back into an old pattern. Sasuke held up a bag with Konoha University’s logo and name smeared on both sides. 

“I bought my books, and let me tell you the bizarre business model of college bookstores. It should be illegal with the jacked up prices. Makes me want to go into Law and sue.”

“Oh?” Naruto asked only half listening. He stood up and began looking through the bag at the names of the hardcover textbooks. The subjects sounded uninteresting, complicated, and something Sasuke would most certainly enjoy. He smiled. 

“You’re smart enough. I’m sure you’d make a good A.D.A.” 

“A.D.A? Excuse me. If I went into Law you better believe I’d be the D.A!” 

It caused Naruto to smile larger and he laughed. “I’d expect nothing less. Just don’t become corrupt.” 

Corrupt? Why did he say that. Naruto looked up at Sasuke. 

“Pff. Like I would.” Sasuke said with a smirk, and he took the bag into his bedroom. He began to speak louder explaining his classes. His words fell on deaf ears. 

Naruto stared at his back until he disappeared. He looked down at his hand. Corruption. It bled through everything. Zabuza. Juzo. Shisui. Fugaku. How many more were out there right now? One hundred? One thousand? One million? Tiny infected veins connected everything and fresh blood was being pumped through and feeding the parasitic twin. The corrupt wearing human masks hid behind their stacks of money and power. He could hear the screams of the children. It was almost undetectable. Only a liar could spot another liar. He thought it would be nice to cut off the blood supply and watch as the parasite blackened, shriveled up, and died off.

Maybe he ought to do it after all. 

He smiled to himself. Not everyone was corrupt. Sasuke was one of the good ones. But he was an Uchiha, and my-oh-my were the Uchiha prone to corruption. Naruto shook his head. He didn’t know where these seeds of doubt came from. He plucked them from the soil. Not Sasuke! He was different. Always had. Since the beginning. Always will be. He felt it in his heart. 

He picked the envelope up. Out of the two. Naruto knew he would be the one whose heart would turn black. If given the chance. Naruto would turn corrupt. He felt it. He never wanted to be in a position of power. He never wanted to stare down the barrel of a gun. He never wanted his name in the Bingo book. But he always wanted to stand up to the corruption. To have a voice. To make the bad things stop. He wanted to pull those evil men from the pedestal and watch as they fell into hell as he stood high up and looked down. 

He was pushed down so many times he didn’t know why he kept standing up. 

“Naruto?” Sasuke called his name and snapped him out of his thinking. Oh, that’s why. His reason was Sasuke. 

“Hm?” Naruto answered. Once again the spell was broken. 

“What should we have for dinner?” 

“Whatever you want is fine.” 

“Are you going to help me or continue to stand weirdly in the living room?”

“I’m coming! I wasn’t standing weirdly in the living room!” But he was. 

Naruto appeared in the kitchen and watched Sasuke opening up their barren fridge then their barren freezer. Nada. They had forgotten to go grocery shopping. Sasuke tilted his head and looked over his shoulder at Naruto who was leaning in the doorway. They spent the weekend in bed. 

“Want to order takeout?” Naruto suggested and pulled his phone out. Sasuke looked hesitant. He had just wiped out his bank account on his college books and already dreading the impending bills the first of the month brought. He didn’t want to think about the other household expenses. The bills stacking up. Groceries and toiletries and all the paper products. Did they even have enough toilet paper?

“It’s my treat. To congratulate you for beginning your classes soon!” Naruto asked and wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s waist from behind. He pressed himself to his back and rested his chin on Sasuke’s shoulder. The sudden display of affection caused Sasuke to stiffen up. He still wasn’t used to it. Naruto’s spontaneously grabbing him, holding onto him, hugging him. 

“O-okay.” Sasuke answered. He couldn’t bring himself to relax and he remained stiff and rigid. Naruto chuckled and pulled away. There was only one restaurant that would deliver to their apartment so there wasn’t any disagreement on where to order. Naruto pulled out the wrinkled, overly used, takeout menu and began to look it over. 

“The pu pu platter?” Naruto asked but he couldn’t contain his laughter and doubled over into a fit of giggles. Holding his weight on the counter as tears filled his eyes. It was a stupid immature joke and he couldn’t stop laughing. 

“What are you 10? That isn’t even funny!” Sasuke lectured and grabbed the menu from Naruto’s hand. “It isn’t even on the menu and you know it!” 

“I’m sorry...I’m sorry…” Naruto choked out as he tried to compose himself. “But I’d like to order the pu pu platter!” 

Sasuke glanced at him from the side and smiled and he chuckled to himself. It was nice to listen to his laughter. It was one of his favorite sounds. Better than a baby’s laughter, because it belonged to Naruto, and it was contagious. His smile. His laughter. The way his eyes sparkled with light. It was breathtaking...it was beautiful and Sasuke drank it up. 

*****

Thirteen days had passed. 

Naruto didn’t know what he was doing outside the Sarutobi residence. The Sandaime’s house was protected by tall walls, barbed wire, and CCTV. It was a familiar sight. Naruto grew up behind similar walls and even though he was standing outside those walls it felt like he never truly left. His palms were sweaty. He hesitated and stared up at the motion detection camera that zoomed in on his face. He was wearing his signature look. Baseball cap. An oversized t-shirt, faded shorts, and birkenstocks. 

“Uzumaki Naruto?!” An excited voice filtered through the speaker from the screen mounted on the wall. It was Konohamaru’s voice. He was recognized immediately and buzzed in promptly. 

Naruto willfully avoided Konohamaru the past year he’s been out of the hospital. The last time he saw him was when Konohamaru testified at his court hearing. He stared down at the younger boy fastened in a chair that had four wheels. No longer able to walk on two legs. He wanted to blame Haku for targeting Konohamaru, but he knew where the orders came from, and the more he thought about it the decision to end Fugaku’s life solidified. 

He hadn’t been given confirmation that Fugaku reached an unfortunate end. He wondered what was taking so long. 

It was painful looking at Konohamaru. His legs were thinner and shrank from lack of muscle mass and activity. His arms were stronger and he could see the bulged muscles in his forceps and biceps as he maneuvered the chair easily around. He was still seventeen. Still a child. He grew older. His face filled out. No longer the baby faced boy he was at fourteen. But still a child. Konohamaru's face broke out into a smile. It was refreshing. 

There was a suffocating feeling in Naruto’s chest, and an incessant throbbing in his heart. 

Memories flashed back from his childhood. He always distanced himself from Konohamaru. He was three years younger and always chased after him at event after event. He was loud and boisterous. Minato wanted Naruto to befriend Konohamaru and because of that Naruto refused. It was the only protest he seemed to win. Konohamaru brought with him the title of being the Sandaime’s grandson, and Naruto was the Yondaime’s son, and still Naruto ignored him. He declined the invitation for playdates, and declined the invitation to his birthday parties until Konohamaru grew older and realized that Naruto wanted nothing to do with him...and then all communication ceased, and they avoided each other at event after event, and became strangers. 

Until...

Konohamaru was the unintended victim in the deadly game Naruto was forced to play. He never wanted him involved. He wanted to be enough. He wanted to go to the hotel with Haku and leave Konohamaru out of it. He never wanted anyone else involved. 

“Hey...are you okay? You look like you’re going to throw up.” Konohamaru spoke in a teasing voice, but the truth of his words lingered. Naruto had paled and sweat rolled down his face. Seeing Konohamaru made him uncomfortable, and he wanted to leave, but couldn’t. 

“I’m...sorry…” Naruto blurted out. It was difficult to breathe and even more difficult to form words. “For not reaching you in time.” He remembered pleading with Zabuza to stop what was happening in the master bedroom. He regretted Haku getting in the way when Juzo wanted to bring him to the bedroom. It caused Juzo to pick Konohamaru while Naruto laid bleeding on the kitchen floor. 

“What are you talking about? Without you I’d be dead.” 

“Huh?” Naruto balked. 

“You called 911. If they came a minute later I’d be dead.” 

“But you’re…”

“In a wheelchair?” Konohamaru laughed. He wasn’t ashamed. No. Naruto took all that shame. 

He didn’t know why Konohamaru was filled with laughter and happiness. Naruto locked eyes with him. It was the first time in a long time he noticed the color of his eyes. He always thought them to be a dark brown. The last time he looked at his eyes was when he was rolling on Callisto. Instead they were a deep blue. So dark they almost appeared black. They were blue and they glistened with light. He thought it would be nice to have a marble in that exact color. It was the kind of thing that would bring luck. Naruto knew it. 

“Yeah…” Naruto answered. He was so unsure with himself and his mind was clouded. 

It happened at the hospital. Konohamaru was placed into a medically induced coma and he suffered a stroke. When he woke up. He was paralyzed from the waist down. The only other souvenir from that night was the scar. Naruto traced the jagged scar across his throat with his eyes. Juzo was merciless. He slashed his throat like he slashed the others, indiscriminately, leaving Naruto to wonder why Juzo was different with him when he cut his throat. He pushed those thoughts from his mind. 

“I testified. Don’t you remember my testimony?”

Naruto nodded his head. He wasn’t able to speak. He thought it was a ploy. A defense tactic that Gendo was behind. Pulling the strings to get him off all charges. Money could buy absolutely anything. It could buy a child prostitute. It could buy Callisto. It could buy politicians. It could buy police officers. It could buy jury members. It could buy a verdict. 

“I didn’t lie and I still stand by it. You saved me Naruto in more than one way.” 

“I thought you’d hate me.” Naruto confessed. He found himself tearing up. He remembered seeing Konohamaru laying in the master bedroom with a halo of blood around his head. 

“Hate you? Don’t you remember how obsessed I was with you when we were kids? I’d dress like you and I’d try to mimic your mannerisms, and you ignored me. I thought you hated me. Looking back I was a snotty-brat so I didn’t blame you.” Konohamaru laughed again. 

“You’re able to laugh…?” Naruto asked bewildered. Everything came so naturally from Konohamaru. He was honest and pure. Naruto felt it. There wasn’t an evil bone in his body. Even after everything he had been through. 

“I didn’t always laugh. Then I realized there must be a purpose for me being alive. I was meant for something, and after I realized that things started to change. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else. I won’t let Udon’s and Moegi’s death be in vain, and I won’t allow scum to wander this earth hurting and exploiting others!” 

Naruto could feel the conviction in his words. There was a sense of justice that filled Konohamaru and it exuded from every pore. It filled the room and he could feel the power of his words. The seriousness in his eyes. The determination. They weren’t empty proclamations. They were truth and Konohamaru was going to make it into a reality. The future. Naruto breathed in those words. 

“I’m going to become a prosecutor.” 

Naruto blinked. He was taken aback. Konohamaru slapped his useless legs. 

“I don’t need legs for that!” 

Naruto couldn’t help but laugh. It caused Konohamaru to beam thrilled that Naruto was relaxing. 

“What about you? What are you going to do to change the world, Naruto?” 

*****

Naruto was on the city bus headed to the hub when he felt the urge to see Sasuke. It overcame him. He pulled out his cellphone and was about to call him when he stopped. He didn’t know what he wanted to say to Sasuke. No. He did. He wanted to tell him the truth. He swallowed and when the bus stopped he was the first to exit. Practically running to the Book End’s store. It was a conversation that needed to happen in person. Not over the phone. He pushed the door open expecting to see Sasuke behind the counter. The smile vanished from his face. The bell chimed and looking up from behind the counter was Jiraiya.

“Oh. It’s only you.” Naruto deadpanned and he begrudgingly entered the store. His feet felt like they were in cement blocks. 

“I should say the same thing! I was expecting an actual paying customer.” Jiraiya quipped and his eyes wandered back to the filthy italian comic he was reading. “Or at least a beautiful girl.”

Naruto rolled his eyes and looked anxiously around the store. 

“He’s not here.” Jiraiya answered without looking up. 

“Is he with Orochimaru?” 

“Someone called my name?” Orochimaru asked as he appeared from the back of the store. His hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and frameless glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He was holding a leatherbound notebook in hand and a pen tucked behind his ear. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Naruto. 

“Where’s Sasuke?” Naruto accused as he settled a death stare to Orochimaru. Jiraiya having listened to Orochimaru’s exaggerated story about his encounter with Naruto perked up. He enjoyed seeing Orochimaru being bullied, and now he had a front row seat. 

“Why are you acting as if I kidnapped him? He’s in class!” Orochimaru defended. Naruto checked the date on his phone. Oh. Shit. He had completely forgotten that Sasuke began classes today. 

“You!” Naruto growled and he pointed a finger to Orochimaru. It caused the man to straighten up and stare back confusedly. “Come with me!” 

Orochimaru didn’t know what hold Naruto had over him but he complied. The two left the store. He glanced down at the boy. He was in his baseball cap so he couldn’t see the expression he wore. 

“I hated the protagonist in your book. You made him likeable. I was cheering for him throughout the whole book. There was a moment when I thought he was going to die...but I’m glad you kept him alive.” Naruto glanced up at Orochimaru and then back to the ground. Orochimaru didn’t know if he was supposed to respond so he didn’t. 

“Why did you write a story about me?” Naruto asked finally. 

“Your story captivated the world, and it captivated me. I did a lot of research. I wanted to know more about you, and the more I found out the more the character manifested. You were the golden child of the Yondaime. You were charismatic and likeable. It was unbelievable that such a thing happened to you, and if it happened to you it could happen to anyone. An injustice was done to you...and you were failed by absolutely every adult in your life. I didn’t want that to happen to my character.” 

Not every adult was bad. Naruto thought to Iruka, Kakashi and Kurenai. When he thought more about it even his probation officer, Gai, wasn’t bad. This didn’t use him, abuse him, nor exploit him for their own personal gain. Not like the others. Naruto never told. He couldn’t. 

“So what happens to him? The character. What does he grow up to become?” 

“I never intended to write a sequel. I told you I’m writing a new book. ‘The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon.’” 

“You piece of shit don’t write smut about me and Sasuke!” Naruto yelled. 

“It’s only loosely based!” Orochimaru defended. 

Orochimaru felt Naruto’s cold eyes on him. He turned and caught his gaze. They looked like they were drowning him. It felt like he was in a living nightmare standing in front of the classroom naked and made to recite poetry. There was fury in his eyes and if he didn’t drown Orochimaru was surely going to burn alive. He looked deeper into his soul, and all he saw was a lost boy. 

“You can’t leave his story incomplete!” Naruto accused. 

“It’s not my story to complete.” Orochimaru spoke calmly. 

“You’re not allowed to do that! You can’t just expose my life to the world and then not even tell me what happens to his future!” 

“It’s your future, Naruto. Tell me. What do you want for him?” 

“A purpose.” Naruto answered. “Something more than just...walking dogs.” 

*****

Place of the way. 

Naruto appeared in front of an old Japanese style structure. The Dojo where he trained alongside Sasuke in taijutsu. The structure was still massive and breathtaking. He entered the building. It was open but it was empty of anyone else. He entered further in, and the wooden floorboards creaked under his weight signifying his presence. 

“Why are your shoes still on? Have I taught you nothing, Uzumaki?” A familiar voice filtered through the air and Naruto spun around.

“Sensei Fukasaku! You’re still alive?” Naruto gasped.

“I’m only 47 years old!” The older man barked. He was wearing a traditional kimono in muted colors. His hair was the color of the first snow and it matched the snow-white mustache. His soft skin rippled in wrinkles, and he walked with a cane. He looked like a shriveled up green tomato. Naruto blinked and believed him to be well over sixty years old, but didn’t argue with him. 

“The last time you entered these halls you were…”

“Twelve. I decided to join soccer.” 

“Mhm. You thought taijutsu was for ancient people, and didn’t find it useful anymore.” 

Naruto scoffed. It was true. He no longer wanted the rigorous discipline that came from taijutsu. The only other person he knew in the classes was Sasuke. The other kids were snobby descendants that went to private school. He wanted to be near his friends. Kiba suggested he try out for the soccer team and he did. Sasuke followed. It was almost expected. Wherever one went the other followed. Sasuke was enrolled in taijutsu and a few days later Naruto was too. Sasuke was always near him even in their extracurricular activities. Naruto said he was trying out for soccer and Sasuke signed his name up as well. 

Naruto wondered if his life would have been any different if he continued his taijutsu lessons. 

“Do you want to spar?” Fukasaku asked. 

“I don’t think I remember anything.” Naruto confessed, but he began taking off his shoes and socks. He wanted to try. 

“Take your baseball cap off.” 

Naruto complied and tossed the cap to the ground. He maneuvered his body so that it was parallel to his Sensei and watched as he tossed his cane to the side and positioned his body in the starting stance. 

“The unison sign!” Fukasaku demanded.

Naruto’s fingers fumbled trying to remember. He formed the unison sign and watched as Fukasaku mirrored his actions. He didn’t expect the match to be so serious but in a blink of an eye Fukasaku had vanished and reappeared. It didn’t give Naruto enough time to block and he was thrown off his feet and fell backwards. The wind knocked out of him and a pain in his chest and back manifested. It happened so fast he didn’t even know where the blow landed. The front or the back? Adrenaline pumped through his veins and lowered his pain threshold. 

“You were a promising student, but Uchiha Sasuke was better!” Fukasaku quipped with a smirk. 

“No he wasn’t!” Naruto defended and he scrambled up. “You knew I let him win!”

“Did I?” Fukasaku asked, and before Naruto could answer Fukasaku vanished again. The technique was similar. He saw this technique before. He reappeared behind Naruto and kicked him in the small of his back.

“Shisui!” Naruto gasped. Remembering him flickering in and out of sight. 

“Mhm. I taught him alongside Itachi. Now they were true geniuses. Far superior than you and Sasuke.” Fukasaku answered a question Naruto didn’t ask. He spun around and aimed his fist towards Naruto jaw expecting the boy to block but he didn’t. It connected and sent Naruto flying back once more. He made a disappointing sound with his mouth. “Tsk.” 

“You had promise. Yes. But you weren’t near Sasuke’s level, and nowhere near Shisui’s.” 

Fukasaku didn’t stop even with Naruto on the ground. He lunged towards him only this time Naruto wasn’t caught unaware. He rolled to the side and avoided another blow. He was up on his legs and jumping backwards. He trained his eyes on Fukasaku and willed them to not lose track of him. 

“Shisui had his head blown off!” Naruto yelled as soon as he spoke Fukasaku vanished once more. Fuck. He felt a blow to the back of the head, and a blow to the back of his knees simultaneously. He crumpled and landed on his knees. 

“Shisui had a warped ideology, and in the end he was unreachable. But he was a brilliant fighter.” Fukasaku explained. He went to deliver a blow to Naruto’s head but he was blocked. Only it was a feign. Fukasaku spun around and aimed towards Naruto’s ribcage. It sent him flying against the wooden floorboards causing him to roll on his back and start coughing. Not once since they started did Naruto take the offense. 

“Your fighting technique hasn’t changed. Weren’t you always the first to move to the offense? It was Sasuke who was forced to learn defensive tactics to block your onslaught. Of course you wouldn’t know how to be on the defense when someone else makes the first move.” 

“Well you did a pretty shitty job teaching me, huh?” Naruto countered. He hated that Fukasaku read him so easily. 

He spit blood out of his mouth and pushed himself up. His muscles ached. His limbs were stiff and sore. He wasn’t as flexible as he was when he was a kid. He wasn’t as nimble and fast. When it came to speed Sasuke was faster which was why Naruto never wanted to give him a chance. He had to be on the offense. When it came to form and technique Sasuke was better. The only thing Naruto had was his unpredictability and improv. He was neck and neck with Sasuke at the end. One fight Naruto would win, the next Sasuke, and another a draw. He didn’t like it...being pitted against Sasuke. On some level Naruto knew he was better. 

“How am I supposed to explain this to Sasuke?” Naruto asked with his hands outstretched. He knew he was going to have a swollen and bruised face and Sasuke was going to yell at him. 

“Tell him you enrolled in taijutsu lessons.” 

“Pff! I can only imagine the amount of money my father spent on lessons. What good would they do me now?”

“Plenty if you’re going to join the police force.” 

Naruto was thrown off guard by that statement, and when he blinked, Fukasaku vanished. His blood began to boil. He didn’t want to be hit again. He had enough. He slammed his hands to the ground and kicked up behind him just as Fukasaku reappeared. He caught the man’s jaw and sent him flying, but the man completed a back handspring and was back on his feet seemingly unaffected. 

“How did you know?” Naruto asked.

“Why else would you be here after all these years? Shisui returned when he was being considered for the Anbu, and I trained with him. I’ll extend that offer unto you, Naruto. You just have to make a decision on what you want to do.” 

Naruto knew Shisui’s skill. He saw it firsthand, which was why he told Obito when the police opened the door to the basement of the consignment shop they had to immediately shoot, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to kill him. 

“I...killed him. Shisui.” Naruto confessed. He didn’t know why he was making such a confession. He hadn’t thought of Shisui so much as he had today. “I mean. I didn’t pull the trigger, but I set it up. I set everything up for him to be killed.” 

Fukasaku nodded his head but he didn’t respond right away. He walked over, bent down, and picked up his cane. He straightened up and looked at Naruto in the mirror and Naruto looked back. 

“We all make choices that we make and we have to live with the consequences of those choices for the rest of our lives. Sometimes a choice has to be made. Is it the right one? Is it the wrong one? Maybe it’s subjective. All I can say is the offer still stands.” 

*****

Naruto didn’t know what he was doing. The sun was already setting, and he was on the last bus headed to Forest Haven Psychiatric Hospital. He was the only one on the bus. He was always the only one on the bus when he made his monthly trips to therapy and to renew his medication prescriptions. The seats were empty all around him. It was eerie. He never traveled here so late. The bus driver paid him no mind. He lost the Anbu that were trailing him and jumped on the bus last minute. 

He exhaled when the bus stopped at the lone bus stop in the middle of nowhere. There was a single lamp post and the bulb flickered in and out. Naruto looked at the long winding path to the hospital and without looking back as the bus pulled away he moved down the blackened path. He took this path so many times he could do it blindfolded, which was basically the same thing as wading through the darkness of the night. Large oak trees enclosed around him and blocked out the light of the stars and the moon. He truly was shrouded in darkness. 

His phone began to vibrate, and he jumped out of his skin. He exhaled in fear and then realizing it was just his phone he calmed down. He pulled it out and saw that Sasuke was calling him. No doubt wondering why he wasn’t home. He licked his lips and answered it. He didn’t want to worry him.

“Hi Sasuke.”

“Where are you?” 

“I’m about to meet Kurenai.” 

“When will you be back?” 

“I’ll have to call an Uber...I’m not sure when.” 

“Mhm. Let me know when you’re heading back.” 

“Okay.”

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

*****

“What did he say?” Ino asked anxiously. She was chewing on the skin of her thumb and bouncing on the balls of her heels. Sasuke’s eyes flickered from her to Sai. 

“He’s visiting Kurenai.” 

“Are you sure you didn’t hit him?” Sasuke asked. His voice was saturated in anger. He settled his eyes on Sai. The other man looked upset. It was the only emotion Sasuke witnessed from him and he knew he was telling the truth. It was raw and real. He felt it in his heart. He knew the answer even before Sai answered. He knew the answer even before he asked the question. He knew Naruto was lying the whole time. He just wanted to be wrong. 

“Positive.” Sai answered. 

“I told you already Sasuke! Sai would never hurt Naruto!” Ino defended. She was upset. Her voice was shrill. 

“Then who hurt him?” Sasuke yelled. He didn’t know why he was shouting at Ino and Sai. It wasn’t going to get him the answers he so desperately wanted. They were just as confused and hurt and worried as he was. Just when he thought he was getting closer to Naruto he happened upon a chasm. One where if he jumped over it he wasn’t confident he could make it to the other side. 

“Is he lying to us again?” Ino asked. She didn’t wait for an answer before concluding. “He’s lying to us again. I’m going to kick his ass the next time I see him!” 

“Naruto always had a good reason to lie. He never did it out of spite or malice.” Sai spoke. He was levelheaded. 

Sasuke glanced at him. He wanted to hate Sai, but even now he was defending him whereas Sasuke wanted to accuse Naruto. He wondered if this was how things were going to be forever. Sasuke kept in the dark. Was he so unworthy? Was he so powerless? Naruto didn’t come to him because he was weak. He had nothing to offer Naruto. If he had a problem he wouldn’t go to Sasuke. He’d shoulder it on his own. It wasn’t in Naruto’s character to burden his friends. 

He was afraid Naruto was in trouble again. He was afraid Naruto was so deep in trouble that he wouldn’t be able to get out by himself. He was afraid history was going to repeat itself, and if it did, Sasuke didn’t think he was able to survive another round. 

*****

Naruto returned home late. 

He ended up having to call a taxi, which took longer. The hospital was situated in a forest and surrounding the forest was flat plains. In the middle of nowhere. There weren’t any houses for miles so of course there wouldn’t be readily available ubers like they were in the city. He sighed in relief when he was able to return home. He closed the door and sighed happily. He was beyond exhausted. He slipped off his shoes and stifled a yawn ready to crawl into bed and sleep. 

The lights flickered on and he saw Sasuke standing in the hallway. 

“Yo.” Naruto greeted nonchalantly. 

“What happened to your face?” Sasuke asked. Naruto touched his face. Kurenai had treated him at the hospital. He had a busted lip, some bruising and swelling, but it wasn’t anything serious and it would clear up in a few days. 

“I visited Fukasaku.”

“Don’t lie!” Sasuke wasn’t able to be calm and level headed like Sai. He didn’t have the luxuries that Sai had whose only trauma was happening upon a dead body at the bus stop. He felt bitter and spiteful. He didn’t know why he was jealous of Sai. It made his blood boil. 

“I’m not lying…” Naruto answered bewildered. He was confused. He didn’t know why Sasuke was so upset. He could see the other was fuming, shaking even. “What’s wrong?” His voice full of fear and concern. He searched Sasuke’s face for the answer. 

“I ran into Ino and Sai today!” Sasuke answered. The realization didn’t just hit Naruto it obliterated him. Shit. 

“I was going to tell you.” Naruto defended. As soon as he said it he knew it sounded like an excuse. Even if he planned on telling him. He really was. It didn’t matter now. He never had good timing. 

“When?”

Naruto didn’t know how to answer. The truth was he wanted to tell Sasuke today but telling him that now was comical. He wanted to say tomorrow as the most realistic option but if he said that it would be as if he insulted him, and slapped him in the face. He didn’t know what to say so he remained silent. Thinking maybe he wouldn’t tell him at all. Maybe it was safer that way. 

“What are you going to give me the silent treatment again? Oh what a surprise Uzumaki Naruto giving me the silent treatment!” Sasuke’s voice was filled with cold sarcasm. He was upset. “What are you going to do next? Make up some more rules for me to follow?” 

“Fight me.” Naruto spoke and it left Sasuke speechless. The blonde looked around their apartment and shook his head. “Here is no good.”

“What are you talking about?” Sasuke screamed. It felt like he was going to burst a blood vessel. 

“I want to see who's better. You or me at taijutsu.” Naruto answered and he was already slipping one shoe on. “Let’s go to the park.”

“Are you crazy? Are you high right now?” Sasuke yelled and he grabbed Naruto’s wrist, pulled him towards him, and looked into his eyes. He wanted to see if he was rolling on something. Cocaine. Calisto. His eyes were clear and bright. Naruto shook his head no and looked insulted that he’d even suggest it. 

“I told you. I visited Fukasaku today. He remembered things differently.” Naruto explained as he gently pulled his hand from Sasuke’s grasp and put on his other shoe. He opted for sneakers instead of his sandals. 

“What do you mean?” Sasuke asked. He was calming down and watched Naruto carefully. 

“He said you were better at taijutsu than me, and I remembered being better at it than you. I told him I let you win and I thought he knew all along.” 

“You actually thought you let me win?” Sasuke balked. Naruto nodded his head. “Mhm.” 

“We’re adults, Naruto we’re not kids anymore. Go away with your ‘fight me’ bullshit! Grow up.” 

“What are you a scaredy-cat? Because you know I’m right. I was...no I am better at taijutsu than you.” 

*****

“This is ridiculous.” Sasuke spoke when he found himself in a clearing at the park. He changed from his pajamas into street clothes. Almost in disbelief that he was actually doing this. 

The sturgeon moon was full and bathed everything in light. The stars twinkled in the sky. The universe felt closer in that moment than it ever did. Sasuke looked up at the sky afraid any moment the universe was going to come crashing down at them. Naruto stood parallel. There was determination in his eyes. A fierceness that illuminated his eyes in a blue fire. The last time he sensed this was when they were pitted against each other in competition. It caught him off guard.

Sasuke remembered the last time they fought it was a draw. 

“The unison sign.” Naruto commented as he formed the sign. It came more naturally the second time. He wondered if it was a disadvantage to challenge Sasuke after sparring with Fukasaku for the better half of the afternoon. Moves he thought were forgotten came back. Even if they were childish and nowhere near as refined as Fukasaku master technique they came back. 

“Yeah-yeah. I know.” Sasuke huffed and formed the sign. 

Naruto was serious and it woke something up inside Sasuke. Motivation. He didn’t want to lose to Naruto. Not because he wanted to win, but because he wanted to be strong...strong enough to protect him, and if he won maybe Naruto would finally see it that way too. When Sasuke pondered if the past was going to repeat itself. He didn’t expect to find such a clear answer, because sometimes it did. He wondered if the planets aligned because it felt like he was miming their younger selves.

Naruto was the first to be on the offense, it shocked Sasuke and forced him on the defense. Naruto swung his right arm at Sasuke's head, which Sasuke easily blocked. Naruto swung his body to the left bringing up his left leg aimed at Sasuke's right side. Sasuke was faster, he grabbed hold of Naruto's leg with his right hand before the impact, and punched Naruto in the stomach with his left hand.

Naruto side stepped away from Sasuke, as Sasuke swung at him again, and pulled his leg from Sasuke's grasp. Naruto spun his body around, grabbing Sasuke's left wrist, pulling the boy down, before swinging his other fist at Sasuke's jaw. The impact of the hit pushed Sasuke's head down. 

Only, things deviated from the past, because in the past Naruto released his wrist. 

Today Naruto didn’t release Sasuke's wrist and his foot connected with Sasuke’s throat. Sasuke thought he was going to choke. He thought his soul was jerked from his body. Naruto released his wrist and kicked him in the chest. Naruto had the upper hand. He sideswiped Sasuke and it caused him to lose his balance entirely. Gravity pulled him down and he landed against the grassy field. 

Naruto was on top of Sasuke in an instant, his right hand on Sasuke’s chest, and left hand balled into a fist inches from him face. 

“Winner...Uzumaki Naruto.” Naruto whispered. 

Sasuke wasn’t able to breath and the world continued to spin around them. Naruto’s face was so close Sasuke could feel his breath against his skin. He found his breath, finally, and panted. He lost?! 

“Fukasaku was right.” Naruto spoke and he pushed himself off Sasuke and rolled next to him on the ground.

“About what?” Sasuke wheezed. He wondered if he had any internal injuries and his hands went to his throat to feel if anything was broken. 

“If I’m not on the offense I have no idea how to be on the defense.” 

Once again Naruto was in another world and Sasuke didn’t know what he was on about. 

“Fugaku put my name in the Bingo book.” Naruto confessed. In the same manner that he confessed to Fukasaku this afternoon. 

“The night of the art gallery I was attacked by somebody who wanted the bounty on my head. Turns out I’m listed as number one. I never wanted to be in the spotlight. He came out of nowhere. He tried to get me to pass out, but the drugs didn’t work. He pistol whipped me twice to subdue me before aiming the gun at me. I thought I was going to die until the Anbu arrived. He was arrested. I was afraid to tell you...I’m sorry, and the envelope...it’s an application.” 

Sasuke’s breath left him for another reason. He became paralyzed the moment Naruto mentioned Fugaku’s name. The confession spilled from Naruto’s mouth and everything was revealed. 

“To the police academy. I have no intention of joining. I’m going to join the Anbu. I’m going to work for Tsunade.” 

Sasuke pushed himself into a sitting position. He felt dizzy and woozy. His head felt heavy as if at any moment it was going to crush his neck. His vision blurred and he inhaled painfully. He turned to look at Naruto who pushed himself into a sitting position. Mirroring him. They were shoulder to shoulder. Side by side. 

“You have a bounty on your head?” Sasuke asked. Stunned. Putting the pieces together. 

“For the time being. It’s going to be erased soon.” Naruto answered. Hopefully. When Fugaku dies. 

“Fugaku did it?” Sasuke asked.

“Mhm.”

Sasuke’s heart throbbed. His eyes rolled down to the blades of grass that scratched his exposed skin. He was too ashamed to look Naruto in the eyes. Until he felt Naruto’s hand grabbing his. He looked to see Naruto holding his hand and threading his fingers with his. He still wasn’t use to Naruto showing affection. Almost as if saying it wasn’t Sasuke’s fault and he didn’t blame him for anything. It didn’t release the guilt that had been forming in the pit of his stomach. 

“And you’re going to join the Anbu?” Sasuke asked hesitantly. 

“Mhm.” 

“Do you have a death wish or something? That’s dangerous!”

“I’m not going to lose to anyone...ever again.” Naruto answered and pressed his forehead against Sasuke’s and forced him to look at him. His voice was deep and serious. It didn’t sound like him but somebody foreign who took over his body. 

“Can’t you just open up your own doggy daycare or something?” Sasuke pleaded and he pulled away from Naruto, but the other still held firmly onto his hand and pulled him back. 

“No. Sorry. I’ve already decided.” 

“What if you die?” Sasuke asked desperately. 

“I won’t die. I promise.” 

*****

They continued to share the same bed, and it was always Sasuke’s. He was getting used to this pattern and he didn’t want it to end. But things were different now. Naruto was going to submit his application, and things weren’t going to go back to how they were. 

Naruto was curled up on his side alongside Sasuke. He was in a deep sleep and remained cemented in the same position. The events of the night left Sasuke delirious. It felt as if he joined Naruto on one of his manic episodes. He was fearful. Afraid if he closed his eyes and went to sleep he was going to dream of Naruto’s death. He didn’t want to lose him even in a dream. He was tense and on edge. He clung to Naruto’s sleeping body and buried his face in Naruto’s chest. It felt like he was on the verge of tears. He inhaled his scent. And it calmed him instantaneously. It always did. 

It wasn’t long before Sasuke drifted off into a turbulent sleep. 

*****

Naruto was the first to wake up in the morning. He woke up at the same time every morning. It was early, and the sun barely revealed itself in the sky. The room was lit but dark shadows still loomed. He opened his eyes to see Sasuke’s face buried in his chest and clinging to him. It softened him. He wrapped his arms protectively around Sasuke and his fingers went to the wild mess of black hair. He began combing his fingers through his hair untangling the thick locks. His hair was silky. One of the softest things he felt in his life. It was all natural because it wasn’t the shampoo. Sasuke was cheap and used VO5. Naruto leaned over and smelled his hair. It smelled of kiwi and lime.

His eyes flickered to Sasuke’s nightstand where the spider plant stood lush and green. Sasuke was clearly taking good care of it because it nearly doubled in size in only a month. Naruto smiled. He didn’t want to disturb Sasuke. He was in a deep sleep and Naruto decided to remain still. He snuggled up next to him and drifted back to sleep. He didn’t want this moment to end. 

*****

“Name?”

“Uzumaki Naruto.” 

It was the end of September and the recruiter dressed in police blues looked up from the clipboard. He gave Naruto a once over. Looking at his body, up and down, and then shaking his head disapprovingly. Naruto noticed the difference. He wasn’t looking at him sexually he was assessing him. To see if he was cut out for it. It caused doubt to fill his head. It caused Naruto to tense up. He still felt exposed. He didn’t like people looking at him. But then he noticed. He looked around the room. Everyone was looking at him. Everyone turned their heads the moment he said his name. 

The recruiter moved through the papers on his clipboard until he came upon Naruto’s name and application and then looked back at Naruto. 

“Are you prepared for the physical examination?” the recruiter said. Naruto nodded his head. 

“You may enter.” 

Naruto entered the olympic sized gymnasium. There were brightly colored mats covering the floor and around the outside a track. On one side of the room where benches and it appeared the majority of the recruits were sitting on the benches and talking while a few were on the mats stretching. They were laughing and joking and Naruto walked towards them. They were all dressed similar. Loose fitted tees, sweat pants, and running shoes. He stopped short and stood on the outskirts of the group. He didn’t want to socialize. 

“Yo!” someone greeted Naruto with a nod of his head. Naruto nodded his head in acknowledgement. He didn’t mean to lock eyes with anyone and now he felt like he was going to be trapped in conversation.

“Are you a runner?” the guy asked him. The man appeared older, brunette, and had a charismatic smile. The kind of goofy smile the hero in movies wears. 

“Uh...kinda.” Naruto answered. He never thought about it before. He’d been jogging ever since high school, and would jog alongside Sai in the park. Or...he used to. Now he’d just jogged in the park with Thatcher and Churchill. 

“You look like a runner. The running part will probably be a piece of cake for you!” 

“I can run a mile in about ten minutes. I never tried to run in less.” Naruto answered honestly. 

“Damn. I knew it. I got eyes for these things. The names Daichi.” The man said and stretched his hand out. Naruto didn’t shake it. 

Naruto froze. He was prepared for the physical examination but he wasn’t prepared for the socialization. It used to come so naturally and now his mind emptied of social cues and responses. 

“Naruto.” He answered without shaking his hand.

“That’s a peculiar name.” Daichi said and rescinded his hand accepting that Naruto wasn’t going to shake it and he didn’t make a big deal about it. 

“Y-yeah.” Naruto answered and stole a glance back at him. He didn’t appear to recognize him. He sighed in relief. Maybe he wasn’t known as widespread as he thought. It’s been three years, and he had kept out of the spotlight, and nobody seemed to figure out Orochimaru’s book was based on his life. He still felt like he was teetering and trying to maintain balance. 

“You look pretty young how old are you?”

“20. I’m going to be 21 in October.” 

“Damn you can’t even get a drink with the boys after the exam!”

Boys? What boys? Naruto looked around. Nobody else was engaged in conversation with Daichi and none appeared to know him. Was he just delusional? No. Naruto knew this type. He was this type. The type that made friends easily wherever he went. 

“I don’t drink.” Naruto answered. He didn’t want to be his friend. 

“Fair enough. I’m 25.” 

Naruto stared back unresponsive. He wasn’t sure what he was to do with that information. Having small talk with strangers was exhausting. He used to do it with such ease when he was younger. If he brought up the weather Naruto felt he was going to lose it. He wanted to stop talking to this guy. Any longer and he was going to be too drained to complete the examination.

“Some weather we’ve been having, huh? It’s so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk! Luckily it’s supposed to cool down tonight! Hopefully we’ll get that autumn weather finally!”

Naruto felt himself implode. 

“Alright you chickadees. Shut the fuck up and line the fuck up.” 

He was saved by a bearded man dressed in a red tracksuit entering the gym. He carried a clipboard and wore a whistle around his neck. He carried the essence of a quintessential gym teacher. But that wasn’t what caught Naruto’s attention. It was the man walking next to him. 

It was...Sasuke. 

He felt his jaw proverbially drop. His mind was swimming. At first he thought he was hallucinating. Seeing the resemblance in a stranger to unconsciously calm himself down. But Sasuke caught Naruto’s gaze, and he knew, he knew it was Sasuke in the flesh. He felt anger and he immediately turned away and ignored him. He felt his cheeks burn hot. He felt his hands roll into fists. He wanted to scream. Why the fuck was he here and not in class? Sasuke looked away and joined the line on the opposite end. Naruto’s mind went into a spin cycle on high. 

“My name is Asuma.” 

Naruto turned his attention back to the man in charge. He knew who he was now that he got a better look. He was a member of the Sarutobi family. Another descendant from the Sandaime and uncle to Konohamaru. He was considered the black sheep of the family. Naruto knew there was an overhaul on the police force once Tsunade took over, but he never thought a Sarutobi would be in charge. They were mostly involved in politics and in the business world. 

But Asuma the Black Sheep seemed to fit the bill. 

“I’m sure you all can read and if you can’t get the fuck out of here, go home and open up a Dr. Seuss book. Okay. Let’s get this started. Four categories. If you score less than 20 points you’re cut, and I better not see your ugly faces again. I won’t accept rejects.” Asuma blew on his whistle. It was a horrid, ear-piercing, sound that caused Naruto’s teeth to hurt. “Pair up! And do sit-ups. I expect everyone to get 7 points. If you don’t. I don’t give a fuck. I’m cutting you.”

“Wanna be partners?” Daichi asked. Naruto looked around. Everyone else was hastily pairing up. 

“Uh...sure.” Naruto answered. He glanced around the room and saw that Sasuke had partnered up with someone. He scowled at him when Sasuke caught him staring. He turned around making it obvious he was going to ignore him for the duration of the physical exam.

“Do you want to go first?” Daichi asked. 

“Sure.” 

Naruto resumed the position. He moved his hands so that they were next to his ears and tightened his elbows and pointed them towards the ceiling. Daichi positioned on his knees and grabbed hold of his ankles securing them in place. Asuma blew his whistle and barked for them to begin. Naruto began. 

His mind wandered. 

First to Sasuke and the unbelievable fact he was here and participating in the physical exam. The last time he saw him doing anything physical was him hauling up their TV stand up the flight of stairs to their apartment, and putting it together. Then, to a memory with Gaara back at Forest Haven Hospital. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed watching Naruto performing sit-ups on their bedroom floor. Gaara was asking Naruto how many situps he was going to do, and Naruto responded until he stopped thinking about that last Friday night at the Twin Leaves hotel. Kurenai told him exercising would help improve the anxiety and tension he felt build up. It only helped a little. 

“Nice form, Uzumaki!” Asuma barked as he observed Naruto. The name seemed to cause a ripple effect across the room. The name was uncommon. The name was infamous. Naruto turned his attention to Daichi and watched as the realization came to him slowly. He wasn’t very bright was he?

“Thee Uzumaki Naruto?” Daichi asked and shook his head in disbelief. His grip loosened around his ankles. Naruto was immediately annoyed. 

“I told you my name was Naruto. How many Naruto’s do you know?” Naruto was put on the defense, and when that happened he bared his teeth like a feral animal. He wanted this man to feel stupid. Naruto wasn’t going to be shifted into a position of embarrassment and shame. 

“I don’t know!”

“Boy are you stupid. You’d probably swallow your own tongue if it wasn’t attached, stupid.” Naruto spoke bitterly and rolled his eyes. He continued doing the sit-ups. It took Daichi by surprise and he tightened his grip back on Naruto’s ankles. 

“I didn’t know...the last time I saw you…”

“I was on television? Yeah I kinda figured. Just stop talking and hold my ankles!” 

Naruto aced the sit-up portion and received the full seven points, but struggled with the push-up portion. His body was drenched in sweat and he only managed to do twenty push-ups which gave him a measly two points. He collapsed onto the mat and rolled to his back panting. His arms felt like noodles and his joints ached. He watched bitterly as Daichi easily completed fifty push-ups before stopping, and something told Naruto he could easily complete more. But he reached the minimum for the seven points and stopped. 

“What are you part machine?” Naruto asked bitterly as he pushed himself to a sitting position. He finally recouped some lost energy. It caused Daichi to toss his head back and laugh. It wasn’t cold or malicious. It was genuine. He really was an easygoing person. 

“I spent some time in the military. Now if you want to talk about the physical requirements for that...this exam is a piece of cake.”

“It’s better than talking about the weather.” Naruto answered deadpan. It only caused Daichi to burst out into a full-belly laugh. Naruto felt eyes on him and he turned to see Sasuke staring from across the room. It angered him and he immediately avoided eye contact. He wasn’t even supposed to be here. Naruto wished that he would fail. Things would be better if Sasuke scored 19 points and was never able to repeat the exam.

“Looks like you need 11 more points to pass.” Daichi commented as they lined up to complete the 75 yard dash. 

“You’re probably faster than me too, huh?” Naruto commented as he got into place on the track. Looking at the man that was tall and at the physical peak of his prime. 

“Mhm.” Daichi answered. He wasn’t modest at all. Asuma blew on his whistle and Naruto instantly took off sprinting. He remembered doing these sprinting drills during soccer, maneuvering in and out of cones while dribbling a ball, and stretching and strengthening his legs. It didn’t matter that Daichi was in fact faster Naruto still finished in seventeen seconds. He still received seven points. 

He was panting. His chest felt like it was on fire. He watched as Sasuke and his partner lined up and he immediately turned away and walked to the water fountain. He didn’t want to witness Sasuke complete anything. He was supposed to be in some intro-to-whatever class learning about western civilization or something. Not here participating in the police physical exam! Daichi joined him at the water fountain as he bent down to drink. 

“You don’t have to follow me around like a lost puppy.” Naruto muttered as he straightened up. 

“You’re really funny. I think you’re going to pass this whole exam. Wouldn’t having a friend through basic training be easier?”

“Not really.” 

“I love your dry sense of humor.” 

Naruto heard the whispering from the other recruits. He felt their eyes on him. The entire time here he felt eyes on him. The hair on the back of his neck stood on edge and it felt like he was being examined under a microscope. It felt like he was back in school, living in a fishbowl with people’s smudged faces pressed up against the glass. He ignored them and turned his attention back at Daichi. He tried to read him. His easy smile and carefree nature made his intentions unreadable. He wanted to know what he was thinking. 

Are you a good witch or a bad witch? 

“What’s the catch? What do you want from me?” Naruto asked. His voice low and his eyes narrowing once he realized everyone was out of earshot. 

“Want from you? Nothing. Just a friend to get through basic training with.” 

“Are you gay?”

“W-what?” Daichi asked his face turned red and he stepped back. “I’m not. I mean there’s nothing wrong with being gay. I’m just not!” 

Naruto broke out into a smile. He enjoyed breaking his character and making him fumble in embarrassment. It put them on even ground. 

“Well I am.” 

“Okay? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to be upfront with you.” 

“You’re really weird, but you’re alright. Are you testing me or something? How am I doing? Did I pass?” Daichi spoke with a smile and leaned over to drink from the water fountain. Naruto stared deadpan. He didn’t answer. He straightened up and looked at Naruto. “You said you could run a mile in 10 minutes. Want to know how fast I can run it?” Naruto looked at him still not responding. 

“9 minutes.” 

Naruto rolled his eyes. “You’re the guy who always has to one-up someone else aren’t you?” 

“Mhm. Maybe. It’s lonely at the top.” 

Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke approaching them. Before Sasuke could open his mouth to say something Naruto brushed past him. He wanted him to know how angry and upset he was. He didn’t even look back and when he turned to his side he saw Daichi walking next to him. He scowled. 

“You really are a lost puppy.” 

“Let’s make things interesting. Let’s see how fast we both can be running the mile.” 

“And how would that be interesting? It’s already established you’re faster than me.” 

“If you run faster than ten minutes I’ll stop bragging about being better than you.” 

“Shut up!” Naruto said and stormed away. 

“Competition is healthy. It pushes people to be the best they can be!” 

Naruto rolled his eyes again. He sounded like a motivational poster...or maybe a fortune cookie. 

When they lined up to begin the mile he glanced at Daichi. He was going to do it. He thought about running it like normal and passing with the seven points needed. He wanted to know if he could run it faster, and if so, just how fast could he run it? Asuma blew the whistle and he began to run. It was four times around the gym. Simple enough. His body had been warmed up by the previous tests. He wanted to do better. He looked at Daichi running alongside him. He was going to get a perfect score in every category. He knew absolutely nothing about him besides he served in the military and he was 25 years old. He didn’t know if he wanted to be his friend, but he was the only one to talk to him. The rest kept their distance and whispered behind his back. 

It was on the fourth lap that Naruto felt the runner’s high. It was a burst of euphoria that washed over him gradually. His eyes dilated and a smile formed on his face. He felt all the anxieties leave him and the aching, screaming pain in his joints and muscles went away. Daichi was ahead of him and he watched Daichi’s back as he ran around the last bend. Naruto increased his speed. He didn’t care if his legs turn to jelly at the end and he wouldn’t be able to walk properly. He wanted to run faster. He was getting closer, closer, closer. He knew he wasn’t able to catch up. Not yet. Not where he was now. He just wanted to score better than ten minutes. Daichi ran across the finish line and Naruto followed soon after. 

“Mitarashi...you finished in 8 minutes and 58 seconds. Uzumaki you finished in 9 minutes and 10 seconds.” Asuma said loudly. His last name sounded familiar, and he tried to remember where he heard it. 

“You shaved off fifty seconds off your time. I told ya competition brings out the best in people!” Daichi spoke breathlessly. Twelve seconds. Daichi was faster than him by twelve seconds. 

He was in much better shape compared to Naruto. Daichi was standing tall with his hands on his hips in a superhero pose whereas Naruto was wheezing and leaning up against the wall for support. It felt like his legs weren’t going to carry his weight anymore and he was going to collapse. Followed by his lungs. He couldn’t even bring himself to say a sassy comeback to Daichi. He wanted to ask about his last name but it would be hypocritical. It didn’t matter who his family was. 

“Mitarashi your final score is 28 points. Congratulations you received a perfect score. Uzumaki your final score is 23. You did fine at the running, but you did shit at the pushups. I better see an improvement in you.” 

Naruto was saturated in sweat. He hobbled over to the water fountain and drank like he hadn’t had water in days. He felt his body shaking uncontrollably. He felt both hot and cold. He pushed himself too far. He really was out of shape. He needed to start training. He told Fukasaku he would return for lessons. With the astronomical cost of his lessons he better improve. 

His ears perked up when Asuma began speaking. His voice was naturally loud and carried around the room as if he were speaking through a megaphone. 

“Uchiha you finished the mile in 10 minutes and five seconds. Your final score is 26. Congratulations you’ve passed.” 

Naruto hadn’t paid attention to Sasuke’s trials the entire time but hearing Asuma deliver his final score was like a blow to the stomach. He scored higher than Naruto. By three points. He was wearing a smile on his face. A satisfied smile. A triumphant smile. Like he knew all along he’d pass. Maybe it was genetic. It had to be. Natural born talent. The Uchiha’s were a family of gifted geniuses. Savants. And Sasuke was one of them.

Naruto wanted to be the best. He didn’t want to be behind by three points, or twelve seconds. He wanted to improve. He wanted to be at the top. He felt frustrated. 

Sasuke looked to Naruto, but he was already turning away. His heart thumping painfully in his chest. This was the worst possible outcome. 

*****

“The silent treatment? Are you kidding me?” Sasuke asked as he followed Naruto into their apartment. All Naruto wanted to do was peel the sweaty clothes off and enter a steaming hot shower. He glanced back at Sasuke. He needed to talk things out with him first. 

“Why’d you do it?” Naruto asked spinning around and facing Sasuke. “What about your classes? This is serious, Sasuke!” 

“I am serious! I dropped my classes and returned my textbooks.” 

“Are you crazy!” Naruto shouted. “I didn’t do this on a whim!” 

“Neither did I! It makes perfect sense. Everything that had happened to you, to me, to just go to college? For what? The police force is my bloodline! Not yours. I don’t want there to be another corrupt police officer ruining someone else’s life!” 

Sasuke was serious. He held his ground and stared back at Naruto. He wasn’t giving up. He looked exactly like Naruto looked. Sweaty and exhausted. He was breathing heavily through his mouth. He watched as Naruto’s face turned red with anger. 

“This isn’t like taijutsu or soccer...it’s the police academy. You could die!” Naruto yelled. 

“Oh so you signing up and dying is okay? But if I do it it’s not?”

“Yes! I can’t lose you!” 

“And I can’t lose you!”

Sasuke balked. He saw things differently. He experienced things differently. He snapped. 

“Is that what you really think of me? That I’m that pathetic, that I’m that useless and weak? I was better at school. I was better at taijutsu. I was better at soccer, and I scored higher on the physical exam! So why don’t you come to me? Why don’t you trust me? Do you really think I’m going to get my head blown off? I don’t want the Uchiha name to be dragged in the mud any longer. I don’t want there to be corrupt police officers. I want to serve and protect, Naruto. What do you want?”

“I never thought that! I want...the same thing.” Naruto defended referring to Sasuke being pathetic, useless, and weak. He ignored the part where Sasuke boasted he was better at taijutsu and soccer. He didn’t want to derail this argument. It had to get out of both their systems. 

“Yes you did! You must have or else we wouldn’t be having this argument! I’m not quitting. If you want someone to go to college then you do it!” Sasuke said as he kicked his shoes off and stormed past Naruto. “I’m taking a shower first!” Before Naruto could say anything Sasuke was already in the bathroom and the door was already slammed shut.

Naruto stumbled into Sasuke’s room and collapsed back on his bed. His legs dangled over the side and his arms were spread out. He was utterly and irremediably exhausted. A moment later the bathroom door swung open and Sasuke stormed into his room. He stopped when he saw Naruto on his bed. Naruto’s eyes rolled to Sasuke wearing nothing but a towel. He raised his eyebrows. 

“I forgot to bring in a clean pair of clothes to change into. I’m still taking a shower first.” 

Naruto didn’t say anything and just kept staring. He was getting perverted thoughts as he stared at Sasuke’s exposed chest, and to the V shape that disappeared beneath the towel. He turned away embarrassed. Sasuke witnessed this and rolled his eyes.

“For your information. I’m going to be better at everything. So you better get used to being in second place to me!” Sasuke proclaimed as he stuck his nose high in the air. He went to his dresser and began pulling out clothes at random. 

“Okay.” Naruto agreed and he pushed himself up. “I’m sorry. I don’t want us to fight. If you’re serious about it...then okay. I won’t say anymore.”

Sasuke held the clothes in his hands and he turned around. Naruto was sitting at the edge of the bed looking down at his hands. 

“I am.” Sasuke repeated. He looked down at Naruto’s twisting hands. 

“But let’s get one thing straight. You’re not going to be better at it than me, because this time it’s going to be different. I’m not going to let you win.” Naruto explained his tone was even and he lifted his head and held Sasuke’s gaze. It felt like the first time he was really looking at him all day. 

“Oh yeah?” Sasuke snorted. “Please. Keep telling yourself you let me win if it makes you feel better. I scored a 26 today you scored a 23. It’s going to be a common theme throughout basic training. Just watch.” Sasuke moved back into the bathroom but this time he didn’t slam the door shut. 

*****

He didn’t know if he was fighting with Naruto. It was bizarre. They hadn’t spoken for the remainder of the night. He wanted him to get over it. He didn’t know how long he was going to sulk for but Naruto spent the majority of the night shut inside his room, and now it was nighttime. Late. Sasuke turned his lights off and crawled into bed. The temperatures plummeted outside. They were already in September where the temperamental weather shifted from one extreme to the next. 

Naruto not being here besides him caused him to become anxious. He tossed and turned before sliding out of bed. He was going to confront Naruto about his behavior. He turned the door handle and pulled the door open with such force he jumped back when he saw Naruto standing outside the door. The sudden appearance caused Naruto to jump back and he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“What are you doing?” Sasuke asked. His voice was higher pitched than he intended. The blonde’s sudden appearance frightened him. He wasn’t expecting Naruto to just be standing outside his door. He didn’t know how long he was there for. 

“I wanted to come in.” Naruto answered. 

“Then come in don’t stand outside my room like a weirdo!” Sasuke accused. 

“I’m not a weirdo!” 

“Yes you are. You space out and end up doing weird things because you’re not even aware of your surroundings. You pull this shit out on the field and you’re going to get hurt.” 

Naruto’s face turned red and he shuffled inside. He was wearing his navy silk pajamas. Sasuke stepped to the side and watched Naruto crawl into his bed making himself comfortable on the right side of the bed. Sasuke closed the door and returned to the left side of the bed.

“What are you doing?” Naruto asked and he pushed himself up.

“What do you mean? I’m getting into my bed!”

“No weren’t you going somewhere?” Naruto asked and he gestured towards the door.

“To get you, usuratonkachi!” Sasuke answered. He felt his cheeks burn. He slid under the comforter and sheets. The room was colder than it’s been in a long time, and his blankets felt cool against his skin. He shivered. 

“Oh.” 

Naruto felt his face flush with warmth and butterflies filled his stomach. He inched his body closer to Sasuke and snuggled up next to him. He closed his eyes.

“G’night, S’ske.” Naruto spoke softly and his lips parted slightly. 

He hadn’t heard his nickname since his birthday. It washed over him and he felt happiness filling him up. Naruto’s face was peaceful and free from bruises and cuts and swelling. Sasuke couldn’t stop himself he leaned over and kissed Naruto on the lips. He couldn’t help himself. He loved the blonde too much. It caused the blonde’s eyes to flutter open as Sasuke pulled away. 

“That’s it?” Naruto asked as Sasuke returned to his side. It caught him off guard.

“Aren’t you acting greedy?” Sasuke spoke in a gruff voice as he leaned closer to Naruto. 

“If you’re going to kiss me. Do it properly.” 

“Mhm.” 

Sasuke complied and pressed his lips to Naruto. He felt Naruto’s hand curl behind his head and his fingers move through his hair, and his nails pressing against his skull. It felt nice and sent shivers down his spine. Naruto’s mouth bloomed underneath him. The kiss started out slow. He was savoring in the kiss. His tongue exploring Naruto’s mouth. It was familiar and welcoming. It felt like he was going home for the holidays. His fingers moved to the hem of Naruto’s silk top and he glided his fingers up his side. He could feel the goosebumps form on his skin beneath his fingertips, and he read Naruto’s body like braille. Naruto’s other hand went to Sasuke’s back and his nails brushed up and down his skin teasingly.

The kiss deepened and Naruto became more hungry. He was starving. The intensity of it caused Sasuke’s body temperature to raise. He wanted to fill that hunger. No longer was he shivering from being cold. He could feel heat beneath his flesh as he shared in Naruto’s body heat as they were cocooned beneath the covers. The more he kissed Naruto the more he sank into it. The last time he kissed Naruto he was still dating Sai, and now he was single, and lying beneath him in his bed. He had him. Finally. Nothing was getting in their way. 

It was blissful. 

Sasuke moved his hand to the hem of Naruto’s pajama pants. He could feel Naruto’s moaning against his mouth as he slipped his hands into his pants and brushed his fingers against Naruto’s penis. It sprung to life as he wrapped his fingers around the shaft. It was driving Sasuke crazy. He pushed up, breaking the kiss and pulled the blankets off them. 

“S’ske?” Naruto asked staring up at him. 

Sasuke brought his lips down to Naruto’s and drank in the kiss as the other pulled at the silky pajama pants. He always loved Naruto in silk. It was his favorite. He pulled away from the kiss and moved down on Naruto’s body until he was between his legs. He finished pulling his pants and boxers down to see his engorged penis standing to attention. He brought his mouth around the tip and it caused Naruto to gasp. His fingers grabbed the back of Sasuke’s head as he went to work. He forgot how Naruto tasted. He played with his balls as he tasted him. He inhaled the smell and he loved it. It filled him up. He tried to remember the last time Naruto’s penis was in his mouth and he couldn’t. It was too long ago and he wanted to rectify it. Create new memories. Infinitely better memories.

He brought his mouth around and began to deep throat him. He could feel his penis gliding down his throat as he began to bob his head up and down. He didn’t know when he lost his gag reflex. Maybe it was different when it’s what he wanted, and what he wanted was for Naruto to feel good. He wanted Naruto to feel safe...and he wanted him to feel loved. 

Things were different with Naruto sober. He was present and his moans filled the room like a beautiful symphony. He didn’t know when the last time Naruto masturbated but he couldn’t hold out any longer. He came in Sasuke’s mouth without warning. He came fast. 

“I’m sorry!” Naruto gasped as Sasuke pulled his head back. He already swallowed. 

“For what?”

“Not warning you…”

“It’s s’kay.” Sasuke spoke as he leaned over and pressed his lips to Naruto’s. He wanted Naruto to taste the cum in Sasuke’s mouth, and he did. The lewd expression on Naruto’s face made him harder than his penis in his mouth. 

“Do you…” Naruto spoke against his mouth. Sasuke knew Naruto was going to ask what Sasuke wanted and he wasn’t going to allow him to ask.

“I want you to do nothing but receive.” 

Naruto’s face was pink and flushed. He opened his eyes and stared up at Sasuke.

“I...can’t do anymore. I’m so exhausted.” Naruto confessed. “You already worn me out.” 

Sasuke tilted his head to the side and smiled. He wasn’t going to do anything Naruto didn’t want. He watched as Naruto pulled his boxers and pants up. He grabbed the water bottle from his nightstand and took a sip before offering it to Naruto who took it.

“I’m sorry...I’m not...used to this anymore.” Naruto spoke as he took the water bottle from his lips. 

He didn’t know why that statement made him so happy but he was wrapping his arms around Naruto into a hug. He buried his face in the crook of Naruto’s neck and clung to him. He didn’t want Naruto to be used to it. He already told him that he didn’t do anything sexual with Sai. The only things he did was with him and that made him so happy he thought he was going to explode. He tightened his hold on Naruto. 

“You don’t have to do anything you want. We’ll go at your pace.” Sasuke commented as he pulled himself up and looked into Naruto’s eyes. “I only want to do these things with you. Everyone else made me feel dirty.” 

“Stupid. You’re the only person I want to do anything with too.” Naruto spoke and he put the cap back on the water bottle. Naruto leaned in and kissed him. Even a closed-mouth kiss was enough. They both sank back into Sasuke’s bed. Spent. 

“I’m sorry for doing things with other people this summer.” Sasuke confessed. 

“You don’t have to apologize just don’t do it with anyone else.”

“Mhm. Only with you.” 

“And I won’t do it with anyone else.” 

They were intertwined with each other and Sasuke could feel the sandman sprinkling sand into his eyes. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier and he could barely keep his eyes open. 

“Does that mean we’re official?” Naruto whispered.

“Mhm. I belong to you and you belong to me.” 

Like it was always supposed to be.


End file.
